- "On Oct. 5, 2004, the Israeli Occupation Forces
(IOF) shot to death Iman al-Hams. She was an unarmed 13-year old Palestinian
girl, who was on her way to school, near Rafah, in the Gaza Strip. Her
body was found riddled with 20 bullet wounds. The commander of the IOF
outpost stands accused of the vile act. Like American activist Rachel Corrie;
and British subjects, Tom Hurndall, James Miller and Iain Hook; al-Hams
is yet another victim of Zionist crimes."
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- -------------------
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- "Only Capone Kills Like That!" - George "Bugs"
Moran
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- On Feb. 14, 1929, seven men, believed to be associated
with the Northside gang of George "Bugs" Moran, were lined up
against the rear wall of a Clark St. garage and machine gunned to death.
The massacre was orchestrated by Al "Scarface" Capone, who had
been feuding with Moran for supremacy of Chicago's lucrative criminal enterprises.
Capone denied any personal involvement, since he was in Florida at the
time of the ghastly event. On hearing the news of the mass slaughter, Moran
who had himself luckily escaped the Clark St. carnage, said: "Only
Capone kills like that!"
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- Moran's cogent quote came to my mind on hearing of the
circumstances surrounding the death on Oct. 5, 2004, of an unarmed 13-year-old
Palestinian schoolgirl, Iman al-Hams, by members of the Israeli Occupation
Army (IOF). NBC Nightly News, on Oct. 12th, ran an account of the brutal
killing. That was highly unusual in itself. Normally, any news which is
in anyway critical of Israel is immediately dispatched down the "Memory
Hole" without seeing the light of day. Even Tom Brokaw, a Zionist
sympathizer, who introduced the al-Hams' segment, seemed taken aback by
its viciousness. After watching the NBC TV clip, I, too, was appalled.
I also had a hard time accepting the fact that my country is underwriting
this kind of state sponsored terrorism. Try $3 billion plus a year in freebies
to Israel and over $100 billion, since 1948 (wrmea.com).
-
- The word "complicity" is also relevant here.
Absent the U.S.'s massive financial and military arms subsidies to Israel,
and our rubber stamping, since 1967, of its illegal occupation of the lands
of the Palestinians, I wonder: Would al-Hams still be alive today? Would,
too, all the other uncounted crimes associated with Israel's unlawful occupation
have occurred? (http://www.endtheoccupation.org/index.php).
-
- Before the Israeli state was sanctioned, in 1948, by
the U.N., with the support of the U.S., America didn't have any enemies
in the Mideast and the Palestinians were living in peace on their ancient
lands. Now, no American is safe anywhere on the face of the globe ("The
Sorrows of Empire," Chalmers Johnson); and, millions of Palestinians
have been cruelly exiled by the IOF (http://www.un.org/Depts/dpa/ngo/history.html).
-
- When, if ever, are Americans going to connect the dots
between Zionist wrongdoing in the Middle East and our personal and national
vulnerability to terrorist attacks? When are we going to put the interests
of our Republic first? When?
-
- The only thing I know for sure about this latest act
of Israeli barbarism, the wasting of the life of al-Hams, is that none
of Israel's lackeys in the U.S. Congress, such as Rep. Tom Lantos (D-CA),
Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA), Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) or Sen. Joseph I.
Lieberman (D-CT), will raise any objection to it. These characters can
be counted on by Tel Aviv to maintain their vows of silence with respect
to al-Hams' inexcusable killing, as they have about Israel's deliberate
and murderous attack on June 8, 1967, on the USS Liberty (http://www.ussliberty.org/);
the unforgivable treason of the spy, Jonathan Pollard ("The Jonathan
Pollard Spy Case," Court TV's Crime Library, Denise Noe); and the
indefensible killing of American peace and justice activist, Rachel Corrie,
in Israeli-Occupied Rafah, on March 16, 2003. She was ran over twice by
a monster-sized Israeli bulldozer, while attempting to prevent a Palestinian
home demolition (http://www.rachelcorrie.org/).
-
- According to a published report, "al-Hams was shot
around 20 times as she walked past an Israeli military outpost en route
to school in Rafah, a refugee camp on Gaza's border with Egypt...Unidentified
soldiers from the outpost told Israeli media that after the initial volley
killed the girl, their commander went out and fired into her body repeatedly.
The accounts were consistent with Palestinian eyewitness testimony...Military
sources said the company commander has been suspended pending the results
of an investigation into the Oct. 5 slaying" ("Israeli Officer
Suspended Over Gaza Girl's Killing," Reuters, Dan Williams, Oct. 13,
2004). BBC News reported on Oct. 11, 2004, re: al-Hams, that soldiers from
the Givati brigade platoon, in the Tel Sultan neighborhood, told Israeli
television: "(The officer) was hot to take out terrorists and shot
the girl to relieve pressure..."
-
- Another news account of the killing of al-Hams, indicated
that after she was shot and had fallen to the ground, the company commander
of the outpost "approached the body and fired two bullets at her head
before switching his gun to automatic...Doctors found more than 20 bullets
in her...'He pumped her full of holes. We were in shock, we grabbed our
heads. We couldn't believe what he was doing. Our hearts ached for her...'
Yesterday, an army source said an investigation has begun, but it was 'too
early to speak of criminal charges.' The soldiers were so disgusted by
the slow pace of an army investigation that they approached the Israeli
daily Yedioth Ahronoth to demand the officer's dismissal" ("Dead
Palestinian Girl 'Riddled with Bullets,'" The Guardian, Conal Urquhart,
10/11/04).
-
- Investigation! Dismissal! Criminal charges! Punishment!
-
- Sure, Americans have heard those words before about Israeli
outrages from Israeli apologists, as have the British, and nothing is ever
really done about them. The family of Tom Hurndall, age 22, a peace activist
from Great Britain, who was shot, in April, 2003, at Rafah, by the Israelis
and reduced to a "vegetative state," is still waiting for the
truth from the Israeli authorities. Hurndall was trying to "protect
children under fire from Israeli soldiers."
-
- James Miller's family, too, is looking for answers. He
was a 34-year-old TV cameraman from England, who was gunned down by the
IOF, in May, 2003, also at Rafah, in the Gaza Strip, while "filming
bulldozers destroying homes." And, then there is the case of Iain
Hook, another British subject ("The Invisible Death of Iain Hook,"
Ira Chernus, 11/25/02, commondreams.org). He was working for the UN, in
Jenin, which had just been subjected to a two week merciless Israeli assault
("Searching Jenin," Ramzy Baroud, Ed.), when "he was shot
by an Israeli sniper on Nov. 22, 2002." His fellow U.N. workers labeled
his killing, "cold-blooded murder." The British families have
accused the Israeli authorities of "fabricating evidence, suppressing
investigations and covering-up deliberate killings" ("Families
Seek Truth Over Israeli Deaths," The Guardian, Chris McGreal, 10/20/03).
-
- Tom Hurndall's grieving mother, Jocelyn, called the Israeli
government, "a deeply immoral regime which is cruel beyond human understanding."
I think she's absolutely right. I believe the family of al-Hams, and all
the other victims over the years of the Zionist Death & Mayhem Machine,
would agree fully with that opinion. A vast majority of Americans would
also agree, too, and demand and end to the excesses of Zionist Israel,
if they knew the full truth about the so-called, "Only democracy in
the Middle East" (http://www.ifamericansknew.org/).
-
- Finally, when I ponder how the innocent Iman al-Hams,
only 13 years of age, died at the hands of the Israelis, on Oct. 5, 2004,
while on her way to school, I feel compelled to say: "Only the Zionists
kill like that!"
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- By courtesy & © 2004 William Hughes
- http://usa.mediamonitors.net/content/view/full/10495
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