It is looking more and more likely that a bomb planted by Hamas to ambush Israeli naval commandos – and not an errant Israeli artillery shell – was the cause of the tragic deaths of 7 palestinians at Gaza beach a few days ago.
An Israel Defense Forces committee investigating the deaths of seven Palestinians at a Gaza beach last Friday is close to concluding that the IDF was not responsible.The committee, headed by Major General Meir Kalifi, is due to present its findings to the defense minister and the chief of staff Tuesday night. Its tentative conclusion is that the deaths stemmed from a bomb that Hamas planted on the beach in order to ambush Israeli naval commandos operating in northern Gaza.Shortly after the incident occurred, the army was leaning toward accepting the assumption that the disaster was caused by an errant Israeli artillery shell.
I would tend to believe the IDF findings, especially considering the IDF’s willingness to accept responsibility for accidental civilian deaths, and the palestinian’s history of falsifying facts to maximize world sympathy (“Jenin massacre” and “Mohammed al-Dura” anyone?) This is further borne out by the manifest falsifications in the now infamous “crying girl on beach ” footage, as identified by Palestinian Media Watch.
But here’s the thing. Despite any vindication of the IDF, much damage has been done. Images of the crying girl and the like have already hit their marks, aided by mainstream media complicity in the “blame Israel” game.
On a positive note, so many blogs have been analyzing this story, asking the right questions, and treating the palestinian/MSM version with the right amounts of skepticism. In fact, it is precisely because of this that I have not felt the need to comment on this incident until now.
