IDF Apologizes for Executing Wrong Unarmed Man
January 8th, 2011 § 7 Comments
Important note: As Richard Silverstein points out, there was no official apology issued, only ‘regret‘ expressed, which is the word I should have used.
The IDF, self-marketed as the ‘most humane army in the world,’ executed an unarmed 65-year-old man sleeping in his bed in Hebron today. They have issued an apology, claiming that the real target, an alleged member of Hamas, lived downstairs.
Israeli Brigadier-General Nitzan Alon said the soldiers opened fire after Amr Qawasme made a ‘suspicious movement.’ Alon did not elaborate as to what exactly qualifies as a suspicious movement coming from an old man who is awakened to Israeli soldiers pointing guns at him in his bedroom while physically subduing his wife.
His wife, who is left with 9 children to care for alone, claims the IDF report is false. According to a Reuters report:
I was praying when they entered. I do not know how they opened the door. They put their hand to my mouth and a rifle to my head.
When she protested, they reportedly told her to ‘shut up.’
So far most of the mainstream media’s focus (Western, Israeli and Arab) has been on the IDF’s apology, rather than as to how they can justify carrying out an execution style raid in the first place. Have the IDF’s targeted assassinations of Palestinians really become this normalized?
[...] eine Fehler, sie haben den falschen schlafenden Palästinenser in Hebron erschossen, der zweite Fehler, sie haben die „falschen“ Militanten im [...]
this sickens me …. I am at a loss as to how something like this can be thought of as “normal” in any way shape or form.
This is the daily policy of US imperialism against Palestinians; we need to overthrow this beast through workers revolution. It is a concern that the US is sending representatives to marches in B’ilin- this is not solidarity but spying on the masses to see who can be executed and who bought off.
There is no apology for this. The IDF enters a house and does this, to a sleeping father of nine children? The most moral army in the world filled with the self-proclaimed brainiest people on the planet (Count our Nobel Prizes! We’re so smart!) can’t get its target straight in its own backyard?
They are pigs and murderers. Shame on American Jews for not overtaking the airwaves to denounce this. Shame on them. I’ve lost my patience.
Are you sure they issued an apology? I haven’t seen one. In fact, on the Israeli TV news show they interviewed Alon about the incident & he basically said that Israelis have to understand that these things happen & that in the vast majority of cases in such “arrest” operations everything goes properly.
No apology whatsoever. But why would he feel he needed to apologize to an Israeli public which wouldn’t be terribly bothered by such a killing? If they did apologize it was entirely for a foreign audience.
Dear Sir/Madam,
We would like to apologize for inadvertently murdering [insert dead Palestinian loved one's name here]. It was an honest mistake caused by [insert vaguely plausible excuse here]. We wouldn’t lie. We’re the most moral army in the world.
Signed, The Israeli Defense Force
P.S. Have a nice day!
whatever happened to arrest and your day in court? If they can sneak up & murder you, think how much easier it would be to issue a summons.