In the past week, the media has reported a very troubling incident. I am, of course, referring to the PLO Arab girl hit by as many as 20 IDF bullets. Here is the latest:
The Givati platoon commander, who is suspected of making sure a Palestinian girl was dead (a military procedure in which a soldier makes sure an enemy is dead by shooting at him form close range), has been suspended by OC Southern Command, Maj. Gen. Dan Harel.Harel decided to suspend the commander in spite of the fact that the IDF investigation of the incident has yet to be completed, and with it the conclusion whether he had indeed fired a burst at the body of 13-year-old Iman Alhans.According to preliminary findings, it is believed that the platoon commander failed to disclose the entire truth surrounding the incident. Maj. Gen. Harel decided to suspend him based on the interim report.However, two different versions were voiced by soldiers who witnessed or took part in the incident. According to some veteran soldiers, the commander shot more than 20 bullets at the girl, in spite of knowing she was already dead.Other soldiers, however, said that the commander fired two bullets at her from a distance, out of concern she was wearing a bomb belt, and then opened fire in the direction of Rafah, in response to Palestinian gunshots. They contend that the veteran soldiers wished to frame the commander due to the tough manner in which he ran the platoon.During his interrogation, the platoon commander claimed he did not fire a burst at the girl. He said the veteran soldiers were trying to frame him after he attempted to end a number of humiliating rituals accustomed in the platoon. His family members told Maariv that their son “was being lynched”.Alhans was shot dead last week after she had entered restricted territory on the Philadelphi route near Rafah, after soliders suspected she was carrying an explosive charge in her bag.
As I said, this is very troubling. If the first account is correct, then the commander committed a heinous crime. If the second account is correct, then his soldiers are framing him. Either way, there is some extremely immoral behavior involved.
As troubling as this is, I want to stress a very important point. Look at how the IDF is handling this. They immediately launched a criminal investigation into the incident. And despite the fact that the investigation has not yet been completed, the IDF have suspended the commander. The IDF are sending a clear message that if the veteran soldiers’ testimony is correct, what the commander did was a crime, which cannot be tolerated.
(In contrast, when the PA occasionally condemns the deaths of Israelis killed in terrorist attacks, they do so on the basis of it being against their national interests, and not on the basis of it being an immoral crime).
The IDF are taking no chances, despite the fact that there is a chance that the girl, was in fact, sent by terrorists. After all, just over a week ago, two PLO Arab girls/teenagers were arrested for planning suicide attacks. And we know from past experience that the PLO Arab terrorists regularly involve children in the execution of attacks. Furthermore, the IDF Chief of Staff believes this to be the case.
IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Moshe Yaalon told the Cabinet this week that the girl had been dispatched by terrorists as a decoy in order to draw out soldiers and turn them into targets for terrorist snipers. Yaalon explained that the girl was in a closed military area. In addition, the girl reportedly threw a bag at them – a suspicious move, under the circumstances, even though the bag was later found to contain only schoolbooks and no explosives.
Also, the girl’s mother’s account of what happened seems illogical.
According to the girl’s mother, Iman al-Hams was killed as she ran toward Israeli soldiers October 5 in Rafah, in Gaza.“She was on her way to school. There was a lot of shooting that morning and when she heard it, she became hysterical. Instead of running back home she ran towards the soldiers,” said Hwaydeh Salman al-Hams.
While this is possible, I find it unlikely that the girl would run towards the soldiers, in her confusion and hysteria. However, I won’t discount it.
At the end of the day, we are in the midst of a bloody conflict thrust upon us by the PLO Arabs. Our army is doing its best to defend us, in a moral fashion. Of course, there may be isolated instances of immoral and unacceptable conduct on the part of some soldiers. However, these are just that – isolated instances – and not IDF policy. The important point is that Israel is not tolerating this. In contrast, the PLO Arabs do not only tolerate immoral acts, but they encourage them, and fully employ them in their attempts to wipe us off the face of the earth.
