The following video is doing the rounds, mostly with the claim that it shows Razan Najjar throwing a gas canister.
https://twitter.com/Farberyanki/status/1004295337719291904
There are plenty more examples of the same video with a similar caption. Even Israeli news outlets are spreading it.
Here’s the thing. It is impossible to tell who is the person throwing the gas canister. It certainly looks like a nurse/paramedic, but is it Razan? No idea.
What this video does seem to show is how those presumed to be fulfilling a certain non-combatant role are not necessarily doing so.
As for Razan, a preliminary IDF investigation found she was not targeted by IDF fire. And as I have shown, the palestinian narrative has many inconsistencies. Which raises the question why, and raises, in my mind at least, the possibility she was either killed by her own (accidentally or deliberately) or is not actually dead.
I implore my fellow Israel advocates to do due diligence, and not automatically disseminate things for the sole reason they seem convenient or supportive of our arguments. As I have long contended, we have the truth and morality on our side – we do not have to stoop to the tactics of the other side, who have neither.
Update: The IDF Spokesperson has also posted the video.
A top IDF general and spokesperson on Thursday said the Palestinian medic shot dead during clashes along the Gaza border last week was “no angel of mercy,” as the army released a video purportedly showing the woman lobbing a smoke grenade toward Israeli forces.
“Razan al-Najjar is not the angel of mercy Hamas propaganda is making her out to be,” IDF Arabic spokesman Avichay Adraee tweeted.
Adraee accompanied his tweet with a short video compilation allegedly showing Najjar on several occasions during the recent Gaza border clashes.
In one part, Najjar is seen giving an interview to an Arabic news outlet, saying that she wanted to serve as “a human shield” for protesters.
“I’m here on the line being a protective human shield saving the injured,” Najjar, 21, said in the interview.
The IDF clip cut her statement after “human shield.”
Another part of the clip shows a Palestinian woman, whom the military claimed was Najjar, hurling a smoking canister. The army said the smoke grenade was thrown toward Israeli forces.
“By her own admission, she was a human shield for the rioters and saboteurs, demonstrating how Hamas exploits all of Gazan society for its own purposes as well as Iran’s,” said the IDF general.
“Do medics in other countries throw bombs and participate in riots and refer to themselves as human shields?”
I think this is a mistake from the IDF – it almost sounds as if “she had it coming to her”, and we are admitting we killed her even though there is no proof of this.
