Electronic Intifada Performs Mental Gymnastics To Paint Terrorist As Innocent Victim
David Lange
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Online terror mag the Electronic Intifada – run by Hamas (and elk) fan Ali “Abumination” Abunimah – has published a conspiracy theory around the events surrounding the killing of Sari Abu Ghurab (the first event Brian mentions in this post).
The author of the piece, EI managing editor Maureen Clare Murphy, tries to cast doubt on IDF claims he was shot while attempting to stab a soldier, relying primarily on “photographic evidence.”
Israeli forces kill youth two months before his wedding
Israeli forces shot and killed 24-year-old Sari Muhammad Abu Ghurab on a highway in the northern occupied West Bank on Wednesday.
The army told media that soldiers pursued a car from which rocks were being thrown at passing vehicles, hitting the windshield of a military jeep.
The army said that when soldiers stopped the car, Abu Ghurab exited the vehicle and attempted to stab a soldier in the neck and was shot dead.
A soldier was reported to have been lightly wounded during the incident. He was treated at a hospital and released.
Photos from the scene apparently showing Abu Ghurab’s body still seated in the car which he was driving, and soldiers evacuating his body from the vehicle, appear to contradict the army’s account that Abu Ghurab exited the car before he was shot dead:
السيارة التي استشهد بها شاب فلسطيني جراء إطلاق جنود الاحتلال النار عليه بزعم تنفيذه عملية طعن قرب مستوطنة "يتسهار". pic.twitter.com/EG9aT2HraU
— شبكة قدس الإخبارية (@qudsn) August 24, 2016
الشهيد الذي ارتقى برصاص قوات الاحتلال بزعم تنفيذه عملية طعن قرب مستوطنة "يتسهار" شمال الضفة المحتلة قبل قليل. pic.twitter.com/jIZJFen3Eh
— شبكة قدس الإخبارية (@qudsn) August 24, 2016
السيارة التي كان يقودها الشهيد الذي ارتقى برصاص قوات الاحتلال بزعم تنفيذه عملية طعن قرب مستوطنة "يتسهار" شمال الضفة. pic.twitter.com/PllGbjUbvn
— شبكة قدس الإخبارية (@qudsn) August 24, 2016
The slain youth’s cousin, Saad Abu Ghurab, refuted the army’s claims that Sari had tried to stab soldiers. He told the Palestinian Quds news site that Sari was due to be wed in two months and was getting a new home ready to start his married life. He was also setting up a restaurant in the city of Nablus that he was planning to open in a few days.
“These false allegations are an attempt by the occupation forces to promote [the idea] that he tried to stab a soldier, while the photos prove that he didn’t get out of the car he was driving, and that the occupation soldiers fired bullets directly at his chest,” Saad Abu Ghurab said.
Now let’s look at the Reuters report of the incident:
An Israeli soldier on Wednesday shot dead a Palestinian motorist who had stabbed him and threw rocks from his car at a military vehicle in the occupied West Bank, the Israeli army said.
An Israeli army spokeswoman said the assailant hurled rocks from his moving car at an oncoming military patrol vehicle, which then gave chase, forcing the car to a standstill shortly afterwards.
When the Israeli soldier approached the vehicle, the assailant stabbed him, inflicting light wounds, she said. The soldier responded by pushing the assailant backwards and shooting him, an Israeli army statement said.
A picture of the dead assailant circulated on social media and seen by Reuters showed him sitting in the driver’s seat.
An Islamic Jihad militant source named the driver as Sari Abu Ghrab, 26, from the northern West Bank village of Qabatia.
There is nothing in the IDF account which contradicts the scenario that Ghurab would end up dead in the front seat of the car. He was throwing rocks from the moving car, causing the IDF to give chase. A soldier approached the vehicle, at which time Ghurab stabbed him (I assume by lurching up from his seat with a knife). The soldier pushed him backwards (apparently back in to the car) and shot him. Ghurab ended up dead in his seat.
It seems all the more likely given the dead man’s identity was provided by Islamic Jihad. They are not forensic scientists but rather a terrorist organization. I am assuming Ghurab was a member, and thus even more unlikely to have been driving, minding his own business, when gunned down for no apparent reason.
Update: Yes, he was.
https://www.facebook.com/wwwsttt/photos/a.152118404930958.38764.152112824931516/805487226260736/?type=1&theater
.
https://www.facebook.com/lahza.blahza/photos/a.150504775042857.33978.150484421711559/1125014990925159/?type=3&theater
.
Plus how stupid would the IDF have to be to invent a false excuse, while allowing photos of their victim to surface, which would contradict their account?
Murphy’s quotes from his cousin, which reveal Ghurab was due to get married soon and set up a restaurant (clearly to suggest he would not have done anything stupid to jeopardize his future), are meaningless, given there is no shortage of terrorists who give up even more to get their 73some in paradise.
What Murphy is doing here is engaging in mental gymnastics to try to advance her anti-Israel agenda. The fact she is managing editor of a hate site like the Electronic Intifada is enough to show this – but she also betrays her biases in the post. For instance, note how she refers to 24-year-old Ghurab as a “youth”, no doubt to create sympathy for him.
Clearly, Murphy has learned from her mentor, accomplished propagandist Ali Abunimah, who does more spinning than a clothes dryer.
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David Lange
