The bullet was shot near rioters who just damaged the fence. One of the medic said (translated) "we know they usually shoot live bullets during the rope pulling". So they were warned. Then the medics came near them, putting themselves in danger and get hit by a ricocheting bullet. Since the bullet ricocheted it was likely just meant to be a warning shot and was not directed at the medics.
The best way not to get hurt is not to be there. I don't know what the protesters were actually trying to accomplish other than venting their frustration, but anytime someone is shooting in your direction there's significant danger. Even trained snipers miss occasionally, and no trained sniper would shoot at the ground. Their unwritten code is one well-aimed shot, one kill.
@Mike F. Protesting for one's rights, especially against unhinged aggression, is nothing but highly commendable.
Don't you dare gaslight their bravery and tragic sacrifice.
As an American Jew and supporter of Israel's right to exist, I find the IDF's use of live rounds against protesters to be completely indefensible and a war crime.
5
@Radicalnormal The protesters were warned not to approach the fence. The IDF was worried about being rushed and overrun, and that if the protesters got close enough to the fence they could throw anti-personnel devices.
The Arabs are STILL trying to win the war they started in 1948....and lost.
But what the Arabs failed to achieve militarily in 1948, 1967, 1973 etc, they have been attempting to achieve via propaganda and manipulation of the western media...staging violent events for the cameras with the intention that their youthful ‘martyrs’ will play on the sympathies of the international community. The western media, and their readers, have fallen for it lock stock and barrel, as they routinely demonize Israel for what any other country would consider their rightful defense against terrorists and aggressors.
This murderous and psychological warfare perpetrated by Palestinians that demands the ‘martyrdom’ of their own youth is sinister beyond comprehension. That western journalists and their readers generally fail to see this manipulation for what it is speaks to their willful ignorance and Antisemitism.
6
@Shenoa
Yeah, I disagree W you Shenoa that Palestinians and their youth are ignorant and antisemitic, or even brainwashed as you so believe. This is you opinion no? Uh, who is shooting into a crowd of unarmed protesters? Did you not just watch the video?
1
To get to the very roots of this tragedy, one must revisit the unanswered question of then Prince Faisal, later King Faisal, of Saudi Arabia in 1948 upon the creation of the Jewish State of Israel: if Jews were aggrieved by Germany, why wasn't part of Germany granted to them, why was Palestine chosen instead? Certainly there were bitter feelings between Jews and Muslims in Palestine prior to 1948, but to confiscate a land that was not a combatant in WWII as a reparation? Prince Faisal's question goes begging to this day. Israel, I can't deny, has become a First-World nation as its Muslim majority neighbors have languished in Second- and Third-World status. The Muslim citizens of Israel enjoy some of this wealth, but obviously are second-class citizens; no self-respecting Jew in Israel would ever be seen driving a donkey cart, yet it's common to see Israeli Muslims doing so in 2019.
Will stories like this eventually end? Will there ever be peace within and without Israel's borders?
Nah.
Not as long as Israeli Muslims are told to salute a flag with a Jewish symbol, the Star of David, on it. Change that flag to a more neutral one, and you have a starting point for peace. How would Americans like to be told to salute a flag with 50 crucifixes in the blue field instead of 5-pointed stars; or 50 Stars of David, or 50 stars-and-crescents?
And this theocratic state is the ONLY country that has its existence guaranteed by the United States. "Church"- state separation anyone?
1
@CM
There was no "confiscation of a land", but a division of a continuously occupied land between two peoples.
One of them the last one to have been independent there and the other one to become a new people in the sixties.
You conveniently forget that the Jewish movement for self-determination began far before 1940 and that around 900.000 Jews from Arab countries couldn't stay in their own country and fled, or were made to flee, mostly to Israel.
Israeli Arabs are overall in a lesser position than their Jewish counterparts, as is true for most Muslim minorities in all Western countries in relation to their non-Muslim countrymen. On the other hand they have a longer life-expectancy than the Muslims in any other Middle-Eastern country and even in most other countries in the world. They have more freedom of expression than in any other Muslim country and as opposed to Israeli Jews, they can choose if to go to the army, or not.
They are also judges, police officers, lawyers, doctors, scientists and school teachers.
More than 80% of them are very happy, as you will find in all surveys held.
Israel is a Jewish state, like many Arab countries are Muslim and many Western countries are Christians. I grew up in Holland, where my grandparents were taken from, with help from the Dutch, killed by the Germans and still I sang the Dutch anthem including the sentence "I am from German blood" and the part honoring the king of Spain. A country responsible for killing countless Jews.
3
What's fascinating here is that people see this critical reporting about Israel's conduct as unfair, potentially antisemitic, due to other war crimes in the region like Saudis in Yemen. Instead, we need to see this criticism as comparable to the criticism a Western country like Canada should receive if it engaged in recklessly firing upon crowds not engaged in violence, with medics in the vicinity. That is how peers and allies should hold each other accountable. Viciously attacking others that simply want to hold Israel to the same standard we would hold America or Britain shows a contempt for a global community primarily concerned with human rights.
Yes, let's call out antisemitism when we see it, but let's also hold Israel to the same standard we should hold all core allies.
4
@Jeff
If only Israel would get the same attention for its actions and perceived actions its Western allies get! In this case for example you should compare it to how the Canadian, US, Turkey, or UK army would act if their border would be attacked by a mixture of thousands of civilians and terrorists with the stated aim of wiping out the present inhabitants. As we don't have this comparison I will do with what their armies are doing in far away countries.
2016 ... an errant coalition airstrike killed dozens of civilians. News agencies have been able to confirm 26 deaths, but at least one local government official estimated the toll will reach 100.
At least 2,562 civilians have been killed this year in Afghanistan, according to the United Nations. Last year's total was 2,681.
This from 2008: The Canadian military is being criticized by a UN investigator for a lack of accountability for civilian deaths in Afghanistan, where more than 200 civilians have been killed by international military forces this year, a recent report suggests.
2009: Two teenage boys travelling by motorcycle were shot and killed Thursday by Canadian soldiers on patrol.
November 2018: A US airstrike in Afghanistan on Tuesday killed as many as 23 civilians, with most victims women and children, the UN says.
Investigators said up to 10 children and eight women may have been killed .
Civilian casualties from aerial attacks have surged since last year.
There is much more
1
Thank you NYT for doing this story.
2
Just another example that “Empire is as Empire does”.
This is not to say that Israel is the metropole of this disguised global capitalist Empire, although it might well be characterized as a border fort thereof.
No, as William Robinson accurately diagnoses in his recent book, America is the nominal HQers of, and merely ‘poses’ as, the metropole of this last Empire on earth — which should be more obvisious today given the leadership of this first obvious Emperor Trump playing the ‘role’ of patsy president.
“The U.S. state is a key point of condensation for pressures from
dominant groups around the world to resolve problems of global
capitalism and to secure the legitimacy of the system overall.
In this regard, “U.S.” imperialism refers to the use by transnational elites of the U.S. state apparatus (soft and hard) to continue to attempt to expand, defend, and stabilize the global capitalist system. We are witness less to a “U.S.” imperialism per se than to a global capitalist imperialism. We face an EMPIRE OF GLOBAL CAPITAL, headquartered, for evident historical reasons, in Washington.” [Caps added]
Global Capitalism and the Crisis of Humanity, 2014 Robinson, William
Cambridge University Press.
2
The comments here that defend Israeli actions and absolve Israel of responsibility, while criticizing the NYT article and demonizing the Palestinians (sometimes in racist ways) are unfortunate on several levels. They remind me of statements by hard line Protestant Unionists in Northern Ireland, anti Muslim Hindu nationalists in India, and, yes, white nationalists in the U.S. Am I being unfair?
7
@JNJWV
Yes you are, because the comments that defend Israeli actions mostly take apart that criticism which is not based on facts, or explains why it criticizes the NYT.
To give a little context: In 8 years of war in neighbouring Syria 650.000 people have been killed, 2.000.000 people have been wounded and 11.000.000 people have been displaced.
The above numbers include thousands of Palestinians in all three groups.
Now try to make sense why one Palestinian killed by a stray bullet warrants so much press, investigation, protest, anger and comment.
12
@JNJWV
If you don't address any specific points, but instead simply categorically label any support for Israel or criticism of the NY Times or Palestinian behavior as reminiscent of white nationalists, that itself constitutes demonization.
8
@JNJWV
Yes.
If you are not racist, you need to assign responsibility to Palestinians who go out of their way to provoke the soldiers guarding Israel's borders.
8
@Brendan Centine
Certainly Israel has every right to defend itself, but when this one-sided military operation is being bankrolled by US taxpayers and with the full-fledged backing of the Western world, both the state and the IDF will certainly be held to a much higher standard than some ragtag army in Yemen or Bashar n co. in Syria.
Besides, when one RELENTLESSLY touts itself as the only ‘democracy’ in the Middle East, you certainly are expected to LIVE up to those values we hold dear here in the West. If Israel and its supporters can’t take the ‘heat’, they should give up the billions in foreign aid and all that support they rely on at the UN and other international fora.
It’s hard to make a case for Israel being the only ‘Jewish state in the world’ when ultraorthodox Jews are constantly being harassed and their exemption from military service is also being ruled unconstitutional. Also, this so-called Jewish state has no official religion, say Judaism.
Let’s call it for what it is: a Zionist state. Nothing wrong with that, but if these protesters are always told to reflect on their violent associations with Hamas, so too should Israel of its terrorist beginnings with the killing of British diplomats and countless civilians as well as American servicemen on USS Liberty, just to name a few.
9
@Truther Zionism has become a dirty word for many, quite unfortunately.
3
@Truther
“Certainly Israel has every right to defend itself”
Period.
8
@ShenoaDid the Jews have the right in 1948 to ethnically cleanse thousands of people into Gaza from their homes and lands in Palestine? Did they have the right to ethnically cleanse hundreds of thousands more into Lebanon and Jordan so that Israel could be a Jewish majority state? The seeds of resistance by the people now in the outdoor prison of Gaza were sown years ago. Don't the Palestinians have the right to defend themselves?
5
At 8:38 in the video the narrator says "Protestors attach a hook to the barbed wire and start pulling a segment away". Clearly visible is a man in a yellow/white striped shirt exclaiming "Come!" (subtitle), possibly to recruit others to join in pulling the rope. This would seem to corroborate the IDF's account of shooting a man in a yellow shirt who was pulling at the barbed wire, and possibly identified as an organizer.
What happened to this man? What time was it when this part of the video was filmed? Why did they not follow up on this?
The NY Times should make the materials available for public examination. There may be a lot more going on than they realize, and the public has the right to see it and analyze it. Did an Israeli sniper fire into a crowd of medics with no real target identified? Snipers know that this sort of thing reflects very poorly on Israel, and no rational person would do it. It make so little sense that I have to call for a more thorough investigation.
14
Why do all the zionist commenters so conveniently forget that the founders of Israel stole the land on which they built their nation from Palestinians who had lived there for generations? Are their memories so short, or is it from amnesia-producing shame?
Or maybe these "zionists" are just russian trolls, sewing discord...
7
@David
You are rewriting history and this is not the place to recount the founding of Israel, the creation in the 1960's of the Palestinian people, or the legal basis upon which Israel was founded. Google can help.
15
@David
The reason is because your statement is false. Israel was created by the UN. Israel is not going away. Learn to live with it.
9
@John
The UN didn’t actually ‘create’ Israel, because the UN doesn’t have the authority to create states. The UN can put forth ‘recommendations’, so that’s what they did.
The Jewish people created Israel, and the UN voted its approval.
6
Too often newspapers are no better than blogs or newsy websites in terms of the veracity of their reporting. But here we have an example of what people expect when they read a newspaper -- critical details researched thoroughly and reported impeccably. Keep up the good work, NYT.
9
Some vagueness persists. What's a "heavy battlefield round"? 5.56 ? 7.62 ? 0.50 caliber? It's hard to imagine anything short of a 0.50 caliber round splitting like that and retaining so much energy as to severly hit 3-4 persons. Such rounds are not really used by snipers in anti-personel missions. 5.56 & 7.62 are ordinary "live ammunition" used whenever lethal fire is deployed, battlefield or not. How come no fragments have been retrieved for inspection (they should have been lodged in the humans harmed)? "heavy battlefield round" is not a professional category referring to rifle ammunition. Something in the forensic work seems iffy.
5
The New York Times is to be commended for spending the time and resources to get below the headline and attempt to get to the truth of this tragic mistake by looking at the facts.
The critical fact of this situation is that lethal force was sanctioned by an Israeli commander and carried out by a sniper against unarmed medics who posed no threat. The fact that they were surrounded by protesters, the fact that they were Palestinian, or that the sniper is an Israeli, or even the fact that Israel has a right to defend itself - these facts are secondary and irrelevant.
What is relevant is that according to the Geneva Convention, knowingly firing at a medic wearing clear insignia is a war crime. Rouzan al-Najjar was wearing the white insignia of the white coat of the medic. She was not engaged in threatening behavior. Israeli army procedure is that shooting with live ammunition is sanctioned only when the target poses a threat. The other two human beings shot by the same bullet that killed Rouzan were also medics, also unarmed. Nonetheless a sniper pulled the trigger.
Medics are recognized by the civilized world by the white coat they wear and the work they do. Throw out civilized agreements such as the Geneva Convention or the basic humanity to agree that, even in war, medics must be protected - and you are left with barbarism.
The Israeli military should end a policy that allows the shooting of unarmed medics. It violates international law and it is barbaric.
14
@Marko
Did you see the whole report? How can you have missed the fact that the shot by the sniper hit the ground, far away from Rouzan? This means that your whole argument is irrelevant.
15
@Marko
Nice analysis. Thanks for putting it together. So we all agree the killing rises to a war crime status. Then what? Where to go from here? Or did the NYT wasted their time investigating and we wasted out time reading?
4
@Just Me
No "Just Me" we don't "all agree the killing rises to a war crime status.", but if you can explain to me which law exactly applies to a situation when a sniper shoots one bullet at the ground, which ricochets and kills someone, I might even agree with you. You will need to give me the exact clause, so I can read and understand, or on the other hand admit that your statement is just another blood libel.
6
Were there no NYT resources available to investigate the Palestinian from Hebron killed by Hamas rockets while in his apartment in Ashkelon?
Don't all Palestinian Lives Matter?
17
The state of Israel has become a Third Temple behind the walls of which it’s citizens view the world with fear. They will hold this Temple for a time, but eventually it will fall like the Second Temple, with Jew killing Jew.
1
Two comments:
1- the fact that the bullet hit the ground first shows that the shooter was not aiming at her. Why isn’t this emphasized more.
2- Your reporting of facts based on your reasearch is fine. Asserting that what happened “may be a war crime” is nothing but editorializing. In that respect the story is quite insidious.
27
@BAK
Neither of your statements are true.
1. As the video says, heavy battlefield bullets can hit the ground and ricochet, and fragment. The fact that the bullet hit the ground proves nothing with regard to where the shooter was aiming. When fired from more than 120 yards it is more than plausible that a bullet could hit the ground.
2. "May be a war crime" is an *accusation*, in the same way as "allegedly" is. Neither are insidious, and in fact both protect reporters from libel. Only a court may determine if an act is in fact a war crime.
If these scenarios as presented by the NYT are true, then Israel is committing war crimes by recklessly (or deliberately, as the case may be) firing upon medical personnel, who are protected under the Geneva Conventions. A dead medic is absolute evidence that an Israeli soldier fired upon her, even if not directly at her.
5
@BAK
1 - If Israeli soldiers fire live rounds into a crowd of unarmed protesters, clearly intending to kill or maim, why does it matter?
2 - #3 Prohibit targeting civilians. Doing so is a war crime.
ICRC
5
Again, The New York Times runs a lengthy article about the contested circumstances around the death of a single Palestinian. This right on the heels of the paper belatedly intensifying its coverage on the war in Yemen, in which Saudi Arabia and its Arab allies, including Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, and the UAE have conducted a brutal air campaign that has killed 80,000 people, displaced more than 570,000 people, and directly lead to the death by starvation of more than 85,000 children. And who has provided the weapons for this bombing campaign? The United States of America.
I believe that it is self-evident that if The Times covered each Yemeni death caused by the Saudi Arabia and its Arab allies, the way it covers single Palestinian deaths, public perception of these nations would be vastly different, and Americans would be aghast at our direct involvement in the killing of tens of thousands of Yemenis. Conversely, public perceptions of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict would be markedly different if The Times covered that conflict with the same intensity that it has given the Yemeni War.
17
@JEG
Yes. Context is everything. Every lost life is tragic.The editorial choices here are very strange.
3
Yesterday, when I began reading the article in the paper copy, I just prepared breakfast to my daughter who is a little younger than this girl. I couldn’t help drawing parallelism between the two girls. Rouzan wake up at dawn and made her dad breakfast and left to begin saving lives but then lost her live in process. My daughter went right back to bed to begin browsing the latest trend in makeup and ended the day with pretty much doing nothing. I don’t know whether we’re blessed or cursed. Yes it’s great we are safe but it’s shameful that we’re also ignorant living in a bubble a shallow life unaware of what is going around the world and how much our superficial life is costing others. Maybe Rouzan is just a single girl but she represented the suffering of a whole country that we certainly made it happen.
8
Amazing how proud these journalists are for slandering Israel and basically only telling one side of the story. Let's keep in mind that Israel has never attacked Gaza; Israel is rightfully defending its border. And if you think these demonstrators at the border have only peaceful intentions towards Israelis, sure let's let the peaceful demonstrators through and see what they'll. I can predict what would happen though and it wouldn't earn the description "peaceful."
33
@J.Sutton Let's keep in mind that in 1948 the Jewish forces of Haganah ethnically cleansed most of the people who had lived for generations in their homes and villages near Gaza from those homes and into the hell hole of Gaza. Most of the people now in Gaza are descendants of those who were ethnically cleansed. Their villages were not far from where Sderot is today. All of their villages were among the over 400 villages destroyed by the Israelis after 1948. They were ethnically cleansed as were hundreds of thousands of Arabs of Palestine because with a large number of Arabs, Israel could not have been a Jewish majority state. They had to go one way or another. They should have been allowed to return years ago. They still should be allowed to return. I say this as a Jew with relatives in Israel, one of whom was a member of the Palmach who in 1948 participated in the ethnic cleansing of the Arab villages in the north of Israel.
There is a video on youtube where now elderly members of the Haganah testify as to the ruthlessness with which they were ethnically cleansed. One man was obviously so ashamed of what he did that he didn't want to tell the whole awful story.
Today ethnic cleansing is considered to be a war crime. Too bad it wasn't a war crime in 1948. Since 1948 Israel has committed many war crimes for which they have never been held accountable.
12
The story is much more complex than your black and white “Palestinians good ; Israel bad.”
12
@J.Sutton
What this article and video are, are forensic studies of the incident, with the intention of getting at the truth.
Truth knows no "sides."
Israel deserves to be slandered for firing upon unarmed, and in this case, innocent people, who were no immediate threat to anyone. They violated the Geneva Conventions. And continue to do so.
Israel is just as guilty of murder as the Palestinians are.
4
Her death is tragic. But your exaggerated attention thereto
underwrites the fact that she was there for the same reasons
all the others were. In this sense it represents the bias of your
paper as well as the clear fact that since Israel's evacuation of
Gaza and its takeover by Hamas any sincere efforts toward
peace were shattered, as they have be well before Netanyahu got in again...and in no small way have kept him and those to his far right in power. Amos Oz, may his memory be blessed, was acutely aware of this too.
29
@Jack Eisenberg The Israelis evacuated the IDF from having boots on the ground and evacuated the settlers from their illegal settlements for only one reason. That reason, according to Ariel Sharon's senior advisor Dov Weissglass, was to kill the peace process or as Weissglass said, to put the peace process on formaldehyde. They succeeded. Any "peace process" has been dead since the withdrawal and that delights the Israelis.
On the first night of the withdrawal, Israeli jets flew the length of Gaza intentionally issuing window shattering sonic booms that made the people think that the Israelis were bombing them again.
Later, even before Hamas was elected, the Israelis tried to cripple Gaza even more than they had crippled them before the withdrawal. When farmers came to the crossings with their trucks loaded with their agricultural produce, the Israeli guards made the trucks sit at the crossings long enough to make the produce rot in the trucks.
In addition to the fact that the people now in Gaza are descendants of people who the Israelis ethnically cleansed into Gaza in 1948, the Israelis have made Gaza into the world's largest outdoor prison. Why should the inmates not resist? You would were you in the same situation. You would demand to return to the place from where your parents and grandparents were ethnically cleansed. You should have that right and so should they.
4
Why do we have to go to other media sources to see this very woman throw a smoke bomb and declare herself a human shield? Why don't you acknowledge in your article what Hamas acknowledges that they put fighters among the civilians to use as human shields? What about the human rights abuse by Hamas against those Israeli citizens who are having rockets fired at them? I find this report very revealing of the NYT bias. Your whole front page is one giant oped now. Your never-trumper, #resist can now add anti-semitism. Truth sounds like hate to those who hate the truth.
32
@Cato Every photo I have seen is that she picked up the smoke bomb that thenIsraeli military had thrown at her and others and thrown it away. She was far away from the IDF killers on their berm.
I am grateful to the NY Times for revealing the mendacity of the Israeli military. I saw the video of a soldier shooting and killing a man who was walking away. I saw the IDF killers laughing in approval of what one of them did. Their commander was angry with his men, not because they shot a man in the back as he was walking away but because they made a video of the murder and posted it online.
For years the NY Times and others have sugar coated Israel's brutal occupation of both the West Bank and Gaza. It is time that the truth was revealed. Time to take off the sugar coating. It isn't antisemitic to tell the truth.
On April 17, 1948 an article in the NY Times reported that the Irgun had derailed two trains. One of the trains carried British soldiers. The other carried Arab civilians. The death toll was at least 100. Included in the article was the information that Jewish terrorists had locked people in their mosque and in a school and blown up both buildings with the people still inside. The death toll wasn't noted. Blowing up buildings with the people still inside was a tactic of the Nazis in World War 2. The Irgun could have given Hamas lessons in terrorism.
6
@Jan Nelson
I once heard it, the Palestinians are the victims of the victims. There is a systematic mouth gaging going on for years, even if in the rare occasions an article like that gets through, you will find mops brushing it off and bashing the believers. Never the less, I'm happy and grateful this one made it for people like myself to read it. The light at the end of the tunnel.
5
I can explain in two brief sentences how this woman was unfortunately killed: While volunteering to aid and abet Hamas terrorists waging war and terrorism upon Israel’s border, she placed herself in the line of fire. The end.
Meanwhile, since 2001, Gaza terrorists have launched 20,000+ rockets into Israel, murdered and kidnapped Israeli citizens, misappropriated billions of dollars in foreign aid to amass weapons (which they hide in UN-subsidized schools, hospitals, and densely populated areas), construct attack tunnels under Israel’s border, and finance the personal bank accounts of their racketeering masters. They routinely use women and children as human shields while indoctrinating and training them to become the next generation of Gaza’s terrorists and ‘martyrs’.
Gaza terrorists have also destroyed over 7000 acres of Israeli farmland and wildlife habitat and cost the Israeli government billions of dollars in defense and security measures...all the while Gazans brazenly celebrate their murderous deeds while crying to the international community about Israel’s so-called ‘disproportionate’ response. Gaza...a terrorist base camp that any other country would have leveled to the ground years ago.
These people are the sole authors of their own deluded misery and have been for the past 70+ years Tough!
36
@Shenoa
Since this article got me interested, I have done some fact checking myself. Since 2001, 9560 palestinian were killed by the IDF including 1500 childern.
9
@Just Me
There’s a price to pay for waging endless war and murderous terrorism, employing women and children as operatives and human shields, celebrating ‘martyrdom’...
Do you honestly think that Israel, a sovereign nation like any other sovereign nation, wouldn’t exercise their right to defend and protect?
11
@Shenoa
In the pictures shown, I have not identified a single child or a woman (except for the dead female medic). Defend what and using what? using a bullet in the heart for a stone that needs the bionic man to reach 300 feet only to fell on a barricade? what a shame.
4
If the object of concern is the life of Gazans, why are young kids - and others - brainwashed to risk their lives trying to inflict as much damage as possible to their Israeli neighbors? Any problem with Israel defending its borders? This soldiers are young kids too, subject to unceasing assault. At worst, one of them misjudged in a tense moment. This is clearly not Israeli policy.
It would be more appropriate to deploy the New York Times' journalistic prowess to question why Gaza's leaders are undermining the quality of life of their own citizens with their policies.
Romanticizing the tale of this young woman only helps to encourage this abuse.
31
When I was an enforcement officer, and approached a person about an infraction, I routinely got one or both the the following responses:
1. Why are you here addressing my small infraction when there are much larger ones out there?
2. When you make everyone else behave, I will too.
I see those responses all over these comments. Sigh, does not bode well for humanity.
5
@Alex
If you were in an area in which heroin abuse was endemic, and you approached someone smoking a joint, his question would be entirely justified. And if you arrested him ten times for marijuana use while heroin addicts were shooting up on every street corner, you would indeed be guilty of sheer hypocrisy (not to mention cowardice).
The UN (whose avowed purview covers the whole world, supposedly equally) has issued dozens of resolutions condemning Israel and almost none condemning far worse human rights abuses almost everywhere else. It is worth noting that the death toll in Syria during its current civil war exceeds half a million, while from Israelis killing Palestinians over the last thirty years is about 15,000. And Syria is far from the worst. So yes, the question is entirely valid. It does not absolve Israel from its actions but does rightly point out the enormity of the hypocrisy of the UN and the media in how it selectively singles out Israel's misdeeds.
So as you sigh, have a look in the mirror and ask for whom it does not bode well. This "whataboutism" talking point is becoming a very popular way of deflecting attention from the hypocrisy that drives selective demonization of Israel.
12
@Alex
Were you always approaching the same person over and over again for strongly defending himself and his family, while ignoring all attacks against them?
6
The article is fatally flawed in demonstrating its inherent bias in referring, at the very outset, to the Hamas instigated rioters as "protesters" suggesting that they had a legitimate grievance against the "stronger" Israelis and not mentioning anywhere in the lengthy piece that the primary focus of the demonstrators as heralded by the Hamas leaders was to seek a "return" to reclaim their land in what is now Israel and not, as suggested by the article, merely to protest the legal blockade imposed by Israel to prevent smuggling of armaments to Hamas.
The piece itself including the accompanying video is pure propaganda meant to besmirch Israel's reputation and I ask what any army would do when tasked with the responsibility of safeguarding its citizens and faced with the prospect of thousands of "rioters" threatening to break through the border and "return" to reclaim their "home".
38
@abraham kleinman
" suggesting that they had a legitimate grievance against the "stronger" Israelis "
Being thrown off the land your family lived on and farmed for generations, then being held as virtual prisoners by the Israeli army for 70+ years IS A LEGITIMATE GRIEVANCE!
3
It's interesting to note how elaborately the Times has covered this article in which the protesters deliberately place themselves in the line of fire (with the full intent of causing harm to the other side) and are then somehow injured or killed.
Such detailed illustrations and 3D models - how thoroughly you seem to have done your investigation - which seems to be solely about proving that she was, indeed, a martyr.
I don't recall seeing any detailed coverage on the Israeli civilians recently critically injured by Palestinian terrorists, including the death of a prematurely delivered baby as a result of his young mother being shot at a bus stop (not by a sniper and not by accident).
Perhaps this is because, when an Israeli is killed, there is no doubt as to the intent of the killer.
39
Golda Meir (prime minister of Israel between 1969-1973) once said, “We can forgive the Arabs for killing our children. We cannot forgive them for forcing us to kill their children. We will only have peace with the Arabs when they love their children more than they hate us.”
The NYTimes article demonstrates that not much has changed in the 50 years since Golda Meir’s insight. Hamas continues to excite children to place themselves in violent conflict through its propaganda. Israel continues to place its children in the undesirable position of having to defend its borders.
14
Golda Meir (prime minister of Israel between 1969-1973) once said, “We can forgive the Arabs for killing our children. We cannot forgive them for forcing us to kill their children. We will only have peace with the Arabs when they love their children more than they hate us.”
Not much has changed in the 50 years since Golda Meir’s insight. Hamas continues to excite children to place themselves in violent conflict through its propaganda. Israel continues to place its children in the undesirable position of having to defend its borders.
39
@Larry
I agree with you 100% that not much has changed. Golda Meir's racist and false statement is as racist today as the day she made it.
9
This is very sad, but Hamas is at war with Israel and medics are sometimes killed in wars.
28
Now, if the New York Times really wants to help Gaza citizens, instead of jumping on the bandwagon and lining up the usual suspects, can it muster the courage to ask why there are unlimited funds for spectacular villas and sophisticated attack tunnels in Gazza, but not enough to help the impoverished or provide legitimate jobs?
Why are people sent to these destructive protests? Because they are organized by Hamas.
So Hamas does provide fun and games at the Israeli border - Fire balloons! Incendiary kites! Cut the fence with cat and mouse with Israeli soldiers! Rocket shooting!
If you get hurt you'll be famous!
And there are other more direct ways in which Hamas kills their own people. Isn't that worth looking into?
Instead of providing a cheering section to Hamas, this paper mighty exercise some objectivity and moral authority and scrutinize Hamas' goals and policies.
I would be surprised if this were published, but I do hope someone out there reads it.
38
@Darren
The New york Times wisely lets us criticize it in its comments, because this gives them a fig leave of objectivity. I do commend them for this though.
10
Though I think the article is one-sided, I agree that the NYT allows us to disagree through comments. Also though there is bitter disagreement on this thread, nobody has resorted to personal attacks and name-calling. NYT commenters are among the most intelligent.
2
Golda Meir's line is still valid: "When the Palestinians love their children more than they hate Israel, there will be peace!"
27
Where is the carefully crafted journalism about the Israeli civilians stabbed to death in their homes? They weren't out demonstrating or throwing rocks. They were merely sitting at their dinner table.
35
And what were the protesters protesting against? Israel's right to exist. At least some of them were trying to force their way through the border to kill Jewish kids in the communities on the other side. So she was trying to help murderers.
So sorry, she doesn't have my sympathy. Keep away from the border with Israel, which is the internationally recognized border, stop trying to kill Jews, build up Gaza, and be productive instead. It's always the Jews' (sorry, Israel's fault). Stop hating.
33
The companion article linking to this one refers to one sniper victim as "a double-amputee in a wheelchair".
Presumably, this is the case of Ibrahim Abu Thuraya, who was killed at the Gaza border on Dec. 15, 2017 by gunshot to the head. It was a big story. However, evidence subsequently emerged, from Palestinian sources, that Abu Thuraya wasn't killed by IDF sniper fire. A video of his funeral showed a bullet hole over his left eyebrow, but another video claiming to show his "moment of martyrdom" showed a wound in the upper middle part of his forehead. As he is carried by an ambulance medic, he flashes a victory "V". A second "moment of martyrdom" video also emerged, and was clearly filmed at a different time of day, with the crowd of participants clearly dressed for different weather. Plus a video of his brother, saying that Abu Thuraya had told him the night before that he would not see him alive again.
Abu Thuraya was likely killed (consensually) by Hamas. They even rehearsed it with a fake wound. The objective was to frame Israel for an atrocity it did not commit.
CAMERA reported this:
https://www.camera.org/article/the-death-of-abu-thuraya-what-really-happened/
Yet the NY Times still reports that the IDF killed him. This error should be corrected. Is the NY Times willing to investigate this incident? Is the reckless action of a sniper more newsworthy than an organized blood libel? The NY Times should expose blood libels, not help disseminate them.
28
After reading this article I took down my diploma from the University of Missouri School of Journalism (Columbia, MO) and burned it. This biased editorial passing as news made me ashamed of ever calling myself a journalist. I will never do so til my dying day. But then again, lately it has all turned to mush anyway.
30
The New York Times needs a Public Editor again.
19
It also should be noted that it might not have been obvious to the soldiers which people in the crowd were medics. Typically medics on a battlefield are “clearly identifiable,” but as far as the Times reports they were wearing white smock which may not have been clear to soldiers operating more than 250 yards away. If you watch the 20-minute video, it’s not obvious to the viewer which person in white clothing is a medic and which is a protestor.
18
It is obvious that Hamas leaders in Gaza want to have their
children die during demonstrations. They encourage their
children to approach the fence, light fires with kites in Israeli
fields, throw explosive devices and stones. These Hamas leaders want the injuries and fatalities which are the inevitable result of approaching the border fence and cutting and pulling away the barbed wire coils, and burning tires. The N.T. Times article begins with Najjar interviews made before Najjar is accidentally shot. Diagrams in the article show the bullet hit the ground and broke apart, before
hitting Najjar and wounding two other medics. The article
relentlessly tries to assert that she was targeted by an Israeli
soldier who shot three different medics in three separate locations with one bullet wounding the first two medics before striking and killing Najjar. The article has not convinced me that any of the medics were " targeted " by the
Israeli soldier.
28
The misreporting and/or outright lies on stories involving all things Israel is so rampant, it's come to the point (long ago, actually) I more or less have to assume at least SOME not-insignificant thing is wrong with the story in some fashion or another (and/or the omission of crucial details), and it is incumbent upon me to and check other sources or circle back. As is regularly, extremely well documented (https://goo.gl/9gX5Zb ). So, like all articles, I reserve judgment on this story for the time being, as I kindly urge you also all to also always do.
19
This brought tears to my eyes when I read the article in the paper copy so I came online to get more info as the pictures on the paper where not clear enough. I highly doubt a sniper will aim at the ground. This was a targeted assassination. This brave girl got what she wanted "dying young but living forever". I often wonder how do the cowards on the other side feel? Admit it you were beaten by a young girl.
8
@Just Me
The tears in your eyes was exactly what the article aimed to achieve. It's much easier to feel sympathy for a victim if conflict when you learn to know intimate details. Once you feel this, the other side becomes a "monster". Sheer manipulation. It worked so well that you are willing to believe that a sniper! so completely missed its target that the bullet first hit the ground, as concluded by by the report. No, that doesn't make sense, because you call it a "targeted assassination ", so either you do not believe the report, or you believe the sniper aimed at the girl, missed by tens of yards, but by "luck" the bullet hit the ground, bounced off, hit a thigh, changed trajectory and then hit its intended target.
18
@E.Hartogs Israel has a long history of targeted assassinations. Long before they pulled their troops and illegal settlers out of Gaza they were busy with targeted assassinations. One of those targeted assassinations was a missile that hit an apartment building. The person they were trying to murder wasn't there but the missile killed at least 19 civilians, among them women and children, who were in the building when the missile killed them.
An Israeli author, Ronen Bergman, has written the well documented book, Rise and Kill First: The Secret History of Israel's Targeted Assassinations.
Long before the establishment of Hamas, a group that was founded as a result of Israel's brutal occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, Israel was using targeted assassinations to take out those they perceived to be Israel's enemies. Israel is truly the leader when it comes to targeted assassinations.
6
@Jan Nelson
Of course Israel has used targeted assassinations, as has the USA for example. In a war you try to kill your enemy. You can use bombs to kill a whole group of people, or you can target the person you want to kill. I guess you prefer the first method.
All this has nothing to do with what happened here.
3
“The truth is more complicated.”
No it is not. Truth: Rouzan’s young life was taken on 6/1/18 by an IDF sniper using
a superbullet fired most likely from a USA provided rifle. Truth: She is now and will be considered a Palestinian martyr by Pro-Palestinians everywhere. “Israel portrayed
her as a threat”. Truth: Plausible only as an ideological threat.
The Times is considered PEP by
Pro-Palestinians: Progressive Except
for Palestine. This article is a rare exception with balanced journalism despite obvious editing.
Young people get it, especially on US
campuses. The Israeli government
and it’s donors are spending
millions on squelching the voices
of students who criticize Israel.
It is my hope that as more and more Jewish young people
search and find a new direction,
they will bring new influence to
their synagogues.
Kids are walking off their Birthright
trips in protest. A young woman
was recently released from 11
months in prison for registering
as a conscientious objector to
serving in the IDF. May their tribe
increase.
16
@Mary Lucchese
A dozen kids out of thousands planned a staged theatrical walk off of their BR trip. They were anit Israel activists from an anti Israel organization. They stole free trips for the purpose of making a political statement.
Rude and self entitled. Want to make a statement, do it on your own dime.
32
I enjoy making my fact based statements.
You probably do too. There has been more
than one BR walkout and more on the
way. It happens when the tour guide
refuses to entertain questions about
the separation wall and what is on the
other side. Also, as I am sure you
know, I hear that the participation in
the BR trips has recently taken a
nosedive.
My dimes are rationed and well
spent. It bothers me greatly that
the IRS uncritically sends so many
of my dimes to the Israeli government
to add to its lethality.
12
@Mary Lucchese
Yes, let’s stick to facts.
I know many BR alum including my own children.
BR kids can ask whatever they want. However, if they become belligerent, confrontational & spoil the trip for others who are there to enjoy it - they are asked to leave.
These are not spontaneous walk offs. They are planned and recorded and the kids who walked off, 13 so far, are all from the same anti Israel activist group. They are accepting a gift under false pretenses. They can go to Israel on their own.
BR estimates 48,000 participants for 2018, a decrease of about 7%. Hardly a “nose dive” as anti Israel advocates wish to portray.
The separation fence/wall is a direct result of violence against Israeli civilians. Suicide bombings and resulting deaths have been prevented by this
separation. The Palestinian Authority sanctions Gaza because of Hamas. Badly needed money is withheld from Gazans by the PA.
Gaza was returned 12 years, ago. Instead of focusing on development, Hamas focuses on annihilating Jews. Hamas, which hasn’t held an election in 12 years, are the true occupiers of Gaza.
Stop the violence and sanctions will stop.
22
Why is this woman referred to as a "medic"? One of the few accuracies in the article notes that she had no training. She wanted to be a terrorist like her friends. The Israeli soldier was charged with preventing another kidnapping like that of Gilad Shalit. It is criminal to fault him for being vigilant.
22
In another article it stated that she passed the certification exam (with a score of 91) and was given a medic ID among other items. This short little op-ed does not tell the whole story apparently.
9
@Joan
She took the medic exam and scored 91%. She wasn't a terrorist, she had not even a stone, which you will certainly categorize as a weapon.
12
@JMM
What kind of certification exam? She had no formal training. She probably put more lives in danger by malpractice than saved.
5
Thank you NYT for bringing this remarkable piece of journalism to your readers. If any people should know about the indomitable spirit of the customised, dispossessed and down trodden, it is Israelis. When will they finally realise that for every Rouzan who is killed, a dozen more will emerge. And with every killing, international support for Israel ebbs away.
13
@Rosco:
When will the Palestinians realize that they do not necessarily have unfettered right of return and try to get the best deal they can through a peace treaty?
14
If the NY Times identified several people with yellow shirts, they should determine where they were at 6:31 p.m., and if any of them was throwing rocks or pulling at the coils of barbed wire. That would address the issue of whether the sniper was targeting that person, but was momentarily distracted and targeted the other person with the yellow shirt, who from the video was standing at the edge of the line of fire. Sounds implausible at first, but it all depends on exactly where those other people were standing, and whether the relevant one was close enough that the sniper could conceivably have made that mistake. The information should be there, if they look for it.
6
That was all addressed in the lengthy NYT article, not this op-ed short version.
3
@JMM
Thanks, I hadn't noticed the single line in that article that said that "the only one anywhere near the line of fire was not doing that or much of anything else". So I guess it comes down to what "anywhere near" means. I can't imagine the Israeli army would make up a story about someone in a yellow shirt throwing rocks without knowing whether it would help or hurt their case. I think they should look at the data more carefully, keeping in mind that two men in yellow shirts might be misidentified even if they are not "near" one another's line of fire. The more I think about it, the more it seems to be the only explanation that makes sense. Is the NY Times willing to make their data public?
3
@Michael
They have been making up facts for years, they didn't count on the NYT doing some fact checking.
8
I think the article is a shameful attempt to blacken Ithe name of srael,beginning with the misleading headline. As if aiming at the ground could ever be a "war crime", even if the bullet ricochets and unintentionally kills someone.
On the other hand, I commend the NY Times for not censoring harsh criticism of the article and the newspaper. I can name at least one famous British newspaper that is very anti Israel and would have nixed most of my comments allowed here.
21
@E.Hartogs.
Maybe you missed this part of the article; "[Israeli soldiers] fire a heavy battlefield round, one meant for targets hundreds of yards away. At 100 yards, ballistics experts say, a missed shot could bounce like a skimming stone."
Firing such a bullet toward a group of medics and other innocents who pose no threat is entirely unjustified and is reckless at best.
Firing such a bullet at anyone at close range is entirely reckless, immoral and atrocious.
13
Thank God someone reads all of the related reporting available today.
2
@E.Hartogs Your characterization rings hollow to my ears. I thought this was a very fair piece and quite detailed. The Times arrives at no particular conclusion. That is left to the reader, as it should be.
The damning evidence against your point of view is a sniper taking a random shot at the crowd when no one is closer than 120 yards from the fence. There is no 'imminent threat' in that moment. And now a young woman is dead for wanting to help relieve suffering.
10
Good report, but I am questioning the purpose of such investigation. Why is the NYT so fixated on what happens in Gaza? There are thousands of presumed innocent people being killed daily worldwide, and what happens in Gaza should not receive more attention than other place on earth. Unless, of course, there are political motives beyond the reporting.
34
@Ben Gutglueck Your post is meant to obfuscate or confuse. There is no practical way for the Times to cover every instance of potential injustice globally. For simple example, how would they even report from closed societies like North Korea and China.
You are attempting to discredit a detailed look at a tragic incident with a straw man. It's intellectually dishonest.
9
@Rob
No it's intellectually dishonest to ignore the fact that the Israeli army and government actions are more scrutinized than that of any country in the world.
US ally Turkey for example is killing and subjugating thousands of Kurds, without any extensive investigation by the newspaper. 20 million Kurds that are oppressed without any BDS, investigations, UN condemnations, or protests. This is just one example out of many.
21
@E.HartogsLet's not forget that the American taxpayers have poured hundreds of billions of dollars into Israel's coffers, many of those dollars used to support the IDF. Americans have the right to know what the IDF does. There are some very brave former IDF soldiers of Breaking the Silence who have spoken out on what they have done to oppress the Palestinians who have lived for over 51 years without one minute of freedom and without justice or any human rights.
Israel, for whatever the reason, has been allowed by the US government to do whatever it wants including the deliberate attack on the USS Liberty in June 1967, an attack that killed 34 American sailors and wounded over 150 more. Every survivor has said that the attack was deliberate. Had the attack been from Egypt there is no doubt that the Americans would have bombed Egypt. After the Americans did nothing to Israel but continued to funding them, the Israelis knew that they could get away with anything.....and they have.
3
As a protest against the attacks on Freedom of the Press, I did something I had never done before -- I subscribed to The Times. So glad I did. What a remarkable piece of investigative reporting. Thank you so much.
15
@David F. McCullough Yes, I subscribed to the Times recently as well. No publication is perfect, but without such reporting the actions of bad actors would remain hidden in shadow.
6
@David F. McCullough
So am I.
2
Intentional murder. No question.
14
@tom
You mean the soldier was so skilled that he aimed at the ground, calculating how it would ricochet, then hit a thigh, slightly change trajectory and then hit her artery?
I love the " no question".
27
@E.Hartogs. Negligent. The shooter didn't know if or who he would kill, but when he pulled the trigger he was OK that his shot could have killed someone. The Palestinian Shoah.
13
@joe
At least you agree that it was no "intentional murder". The chance that a bullet you aim at the ground as a warning shot will kill someone is very small, but I agree that on the face of it it was reckless. Seeing the intentional killings of tens of thousands of men, women and children every month, or so in the neighboring countries does make me wonder why all this effort to find out what happened here and why this big coverage. The " Palestinian Shoah"? Oh please, one must purposefully not know history and present to utter such shameful comparison.
17
Although I am no supporter of the current Likud government in Israel, I find this article offensive. The death of Rouzan can be directly attributed to Hamas's policy of confrontation with Israel. Hamas does not accept Israel's right to exist and encourages Gazans to risk their lives to threaten Israel's security. This poor woman was killed by a ricocheted bullet fragment while she assisted those trying to breach the boarder. So, why does the NYT place blame for this on Hamas as opposed to Israel? The editors must answer this question.
43
@Richard
Hamas was elected by the people of Gaza--Uncle Tom Mahmoud Abbas has no credibility. Hamas has retracted its founding statement and has recognised Israel's right to exist.
Hamas's pathetic firing of rockets into Israel, which I do not support, is the only form of protest they have against their illegal and inhuman imprisonment. I defy any American to claim that if they were confined to a starched area of desert in the US, unable to move by land sea or air, they would not similarly react. Given America's history, and love of freedom, I am sure they would.
The killing of this woman was murder most foul, by a people who have rejected the principles (such as they were) of Ben Gurion and Israel's founders.
18
@Richard
I assume that you mean why doesn't the Times place blame on Hamas. Even if Hamas were the underlying reason for the shooting, would that absolve Israel from acting recklessly ("at best) or that the killing of a medic is a war crime. Also, your comment "assisting those trying to breach the border" is certainly your own editorializing the role of a medic, whose duty is to attend to the wounded. Third, the Times has no responsibility to further report on the news in the article unless new or contradicting evidence is discovered. The Israeli army's point is made. If you are searching for a justification for the killing, you already have it. The publication's reporting does not have to conform to your opinion.
8
@James Currie
Hamas hasn’t had elections in 12 years.
15
I am not trying to defend here the events along the Gaza border. The two parties on both sides of the fence have a lot to answer for.
What I am wondering is why the NYTimes chose to do such an elaborate in-depth inquiry of a single ricocheting bullet shot by an Israeli soldier while catastrophic accidental fire by US forces which killed scored of civilians (like bombing wedding parties in Afghanistan or the drone target killings in Yemen and Pakistan) never got the same attention?.
If my memory serves me right, even the downing of Iran Air Flight 655 by a US Navy ship in 1988, killing 290 passengers including 66 children, did not receive such a lengthily coverage.
Do we have a political agenda here or just the wrong proportions?
42
How can you suspect there is a political agenda on the part of NYT? What is political about the two related articles presented today? Would you acuse the NYT of a political agenda for reporting on the killing in Yemen or Syria? No, of course not, BUT Israel, now that appears to offend some people. Why?
4
One didn't have to be a genius to see an agenda here.
There is only one real story in respect of the Israeli /Arab conflict and that is that the Palestinians are not looking for an independent state they are looking to eradicate Israel. Obviously many people identify with this anti semitism either consciously or unconsciously otherwise other groups such as Kurds or Tibetans would enjoy the same level of hysterical coverage.
21
Thanks for this excellent piece of journalism.
4
Here are some facts about this article's proudly asserted "fair" reporting: 1) Not a single Israeli was interviewed; 2) You don't allow us to comment on the main article, thus Israel and her supporters cannot defend themselves. 3) The young woman was not purposely killed as you have pointed out.
You blame Israel for everything - when there are definitely two sides to the story. These people from Gaza do not have peaceful intentions towards Israel; not in the least. Hamas has instructed them to kill every Jew - it's right in their Constitution.
31
@J.Sutton Did you not watch the video? They did. The Israelis literally had the last word. They did speak with many Israelis. It seemed like a fairly balanced report.
As the member of the IDF said at the end: "In a situation like that, accidents happens, and unintended results happen." It's a difficult situation, but lying about it isn't helping your case.
9
@Jason Lotito I hadn't watched the video. Now I have. The article is still oriented towards the Palestinian point of view although now I see that Israelis were consulted. My bad. But I still maintain the article is unfair and basically one sided. All Gazans need to do is stop attempting to attack Israel; then there will be peace.
15
@J.Sutton All Israel needs to do is stop its inhumane imprisonment of the Palestinian people. Then there will be peace.
7
An obvious try to turn the poor Rouzan into some sort of Anna Frank. She was not. She surely was a brave good woman who didn't deserve to die, but she was taking great risks by working in the middle of violent rioters that did their best to overrun Israel's border and, in the words of their leaders " rip out the hearts" of the people living just on the other side of that border.
To suggest in the headline that she was shot on purpose is deliberately misleading. According to its own report the bullet was shot at the ground, because that's where it hit first and if it was shot by a sniper, that's where he aimed, like all the other warning shots the report mentioned.
Reckless? Yes. A war crime? Not even close.
Interesting though why the New York Times put so much effort and so many people on one person killed in a conflict in the Middle East, while people get murdered by the thousands every month by Turkey, Saudi Arabia, NATO and so many other countries.
Interesting why so many readers suddenly care about the life of someone killed in the Middle East.
37
@E.Hartogs
Because she was killed by Israelis.
6
Israel appears not to remember what happened to Jews, for they now treat Palestinians nearly as bad. They also appear to be taking truth lessons from that worst of liars, Trump. And finally, there will never be peace as long as there are settlements, and Israel continues to grab land.
22
@Andy Have you forgotten that Israel gave Gaza to the Palestinians 12 years ago with every good intention to help them thrive? But all the funds that were sent to Gaza have been used to attack Israel. And now you think Israel has no right to defend herself? You might as well say that Israel has no right to exist; in fact, that is exactly what you're saying, isn't it.
39
@Andy
"Nearly as bad"? Are you referring to gassing them to death by the thousands per day? Maybe to forcing them to undress by the hundreds and then shooting them in the backs? Maybe to the medical experiments performed on them? To decimating their numbers by the millions in a couple of years? Nearly as bad? Was this posted after deep thought?
29
“Gave” the airport sized piece of land to the Palestinians? Perhaps the Jews need to read history again and again and again...
9
From what I can see, an Israeli soldier murdered Rouzan al Najjar and wounded 2 others, maybe intentionally but probably recklessly. "[Israei soldiers] fire a heavy battlefield round, one meant for targets hundreds of yards away. At 100 yards, ballistics experts say, a missed shot could bounce like a skimming stone."
Firing such a bullet toward a group of medics and other innocents who pose no threat is entirely unjustified and is reckless at best.
14
What do you suppose was going thru the medics mind?
60 to 70 protesters killed ? They don't even keep an accurate count ?
3
I believe the investigation stated 185 Palestinians were killed.
4
The detailed reporting on this article is commendable, but the way it is summarized on the front page is grossly inaccurate, and will be interpreted by many to mean that she must be "partly guilty" or somehow "not innocent" and deserving of her death.
For the past 12 hours the NYT homepage reads: "Palestinians called her an innocent martyr and Israel portrayed her as a threat. The truth is more complicated."
If the Palestinians say she's innocent and Israel says she was a "threat", but the truth is "more complicated", many glancing at those lines on the front page will wrongly assume that means she was "partly guilty" or "not fully innocent", an inaccurate and irresponsible impression to give to the huge number of viewers of the NYT homepage.
The article itself suggests no such complication about her somehow being a threat, concluding that "neither the medics nor anyone around them posed any apparent threat of violence to Israeli personnel".
The real summary for this article should be the following:
"the shooting appears to have been reckless at best, and possibly a war crime, for which no one has yet been punished"
"A senior Israeli commander told The Times in August that 60 to 70 other Gaza protesters had been killed unintentionally, around half the total killed at that point. [...]
The large number of accidental killings, and Israel's failure to adjust the rules of engagement in response, raise the question of whether they were a bug or a feature of its policy."
12
@Pathology of Power Here's an easy solution: stop attacking. If Palestinians cease attacking, Israel will not need to defend herself. Israel has never initiated an attack against Gaza; in fact, Israel gave Gaza to the Palestinians with every hope for peaceful co-existence.
22
Or maybe the occupiers could leave and there would be peace.
14
@Cliff What occupiers? There have been no Jews inside of Gaza since Israel withdrew in 2005. The problem is that terrorism out of Gaza continued, with attacks on Israelis as well as Egyptians. That's why Gaza is sealed on both the Israeli and Egyptian borders. Egypt bulldozed the Gaza border town of Rafah as a way to deal with tunnels that terrorists used to infiltrate Egypt.
19
In the diagram, she would be in plain view on the vertical crosshair above the dot if the rifle was aimed low, or right on target if the scope was set to the wrong range and the point of impact was below the point of aim. usa should dump Israel and cease aid. She was murdered to prevent her helping the wounded. That is obvious in light of the fact that Israel blocks wounded demonstrators from being taken to a hospital.
12
How many unarmed Palestinians were killed by Israel last year at this border? The NYT does not know, apparently, but it reports that ONE unarmed woman medic was indeed killed deliberately by Israeli security. Coverage of Israeli crimes against Palestinians, their farmland, their villages, their livelihoods, their ability to go and come from their own country has little or no coverage. A shameful record!
10
@Martha Stephens Well if you're going to go that route, don't you think it would also be fair to examine how many Israelis have been killed by Palestinians, and how many crimes against Israelis have been initiated by Palestinians. Contrary to what seems to be popular opinion, there are two sides to this story.
15
The number of Israelis killed by Palestinians pales in comparison to the number of Palestinians killed by Israelis. This is without even discussing the continued theft of land by Israel with “settlements” and the pinning in of the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza and the cutting off of even humanitarian aid to Gaza. There is simply no comparison. We are going to talk about this out in the open and we will not fear those who want to hijack this discussion into a false reality.
6
@Cliff
You blame Israel for spending billions of dollars on defending its citizens from thousands of rockets and mortars fired at them? No blame for the Palestinians using their own civilians as human shields while attacking israeli civilians?
No blame for the Muslim Egyptians completely shutting their borders with Gaza, while Jewish israel is letting in thousands of trucks with food, supplies and medicine? I agree with talking in the open, but let at least get your facts right.
14
The Times is to be commended for this reporting. And it strikes one as absurd that this much ink has to be spent to tell the story of how a military is repeatedly being used to quell unrest in a civilian crowd. Unlikely this much analysis would be needed to report on the absurdity of the use of overwhelming lethal power by militaries in places such as the Philippines, Myanmar or Venezuela.
14
@R.B. a "civilian" crowd. What do you think this harmless crowd's intentions must be, then? To destroy the barrier and run into Israel to hug everybody, perchance?
5
All the anger at Israel for this one event overlooks the many instances of Israeli medical assistance provided to Muslim residents of the surrounding countries, at no cost to the patients.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/israel-syria-assad-treating-airstrikes-military-wounded-injured-war-a7673771.html
Quote:
Seven wounded Syrians — two children, four women and a man — waited in pain for darkness to fall to cross into enemy territory. Under the faint moonlight, Israeli military medical corps quickly whisked the patients across the hostile frontier into armoured ambulances headed to hospitals for intensive care.
It was a scene that has recurred since 2013, when the Israeli military began treating Syrian civilians wounded in fighting just a few miles away. Israel says it has quietly treated 3,000 patients — a number that it expects to quickly grow as fighting heats up in neighbouring Syria in the wake of a chemical attack and, in response, an unprecedented U.S. missile strike.
End quote
Yeah, the Israelis are such TERRIBLE people, who give aid and comfort to civilians from countries that would just as easily destroy Israel.
Does anyone imagine for one second any Arab country providing free medical assistance to even one Israeli, or even one Jew?
40
@Joe From Boston
Thank you so much. We need to continuously remind the world that is who Israel is. They have come to the aid of many people including Arabs trying to kill them. Remember Haiti. Any Arabic countries there? How many Israeli or even Jewish children are treated in Arabic hospitals? None I would guess It appears the 1930's concept of "it is okay" to kill Jews has returned or maybe never left.
There is one Jewish state in this world defending itself and then expected to live up to some ridiculous standard. No one else is. Perhaps it is just anti -Judaism. Now the NYT continues to inflame that attitude. I have to agree with many this was unfortunate but in an effort to shoot in the leg (a very difficult task) to avoid killing, a bullet ricocheted why is it a war crime?
25
@Joe From Boston.. So the point is ? Israel the good ? America also helps provide aid to foreign nationals ...but that does not give anyone the right to kill. I am a Canadian..any soldier or law enforcement person who did this would be accountable for their actions ...And that is a good thing !
15
@paul
June 26, 2008
The Canadian military is being criticized by a UN investigator for a lack of accountability for civilian deaths in Afghanistan, where more than 200 civilians have been killed by international military forces this year, a recent report suggests.
From CBC news.
8
An improper rifle shot by a soldier probably tense from the day’s events that ricocheted almost unbelievably off the ground to hit 3 people, killing a lovely and risk-taking young woman.
The incident, profoundly sad, is what happens in all violent conflicts—mistakes are made and people die needlessly.
The President of the US just sent troops when no one was even trying to break down the US border barrier—who are we to criticize?
20
@Citizen60
According to the article 60 to 70 “mistakes” have been made.
9
@Citizen60
Yours is the only valid text including the article about this sorry event, and this tragic conflict.
Thanks.
4
The IDF shot about 6,000 Palestinians and killed about 200. That's about 97% accuracy, assuming all the deaths were unintentional.
Graduates of US army sniper school are expected to achieve 90% first round hits. That's assuming you're trying to take down a man-sized target, not selectively trying to hit the leg without killing him.
I'd say the IDF did pretty well in very difficult circumstances, and portraying them as trigger-happy war criminals is a gross distortion of reality.
25
@Michael ...Rubber bullets ?
1
@Michael
They need to train with the Army, maybe they'll learn how to take more out
1
And thus the hatred continues.
1
Reading the article and the comments below, it is clear that the death of this young, attractive woman has been an effective propaganda tool for HAMAS. That the goal of HAMAS is to wipe Israel off the map and have a Palestinian state under its control in all the territory that constitutes Israel, the West Bank & Gaza underlies this article describing the death of a woman. If someone sympathetic on the HAMAS side is killed, positive publicity. If they break through the wall and harm people on the Israeli side because no one shoots or tries to stop them, positive publicity - they harmed the occupier. This woman used anti Israel protests to advance herself; her society gave her few other ways to do so. In a world where people understand narratives that are sympathetic and lack factual knowledge about the context in which a narrative takes place, the death of this woman pits a sympathetic figure against what looks to be a well-equipped army - the oppressed vs the oppressor. As your article tries to explain, the story is more complex than that. However, the conclusion that Israel needs to work harder to make peace or to help these people misses a point. When someone wants you dead and out of the way totally, how do you improve the person's life and make him/her accept your right to exist and share space? This is an underlying part of the wall protest. No, Israel is not perfect, who is? But condemn HAMAS, because it's the real murderer of this woman and so many others.
42
What is the value in writing Hamas in all caps? Because the article really is about the senseless murder of a young female medic, not Hamas.
17
Hamas has retracted that statement. Stay current.
1
@JMM
And you believe Hamas?
4
My goodness...the paper is flooded with Israel apologists today.
Yes, Hamas bears some responsibility. It is a chaotic situation.
But it would not be nearly so chaotic if Israel was behaving like a state and people who actually wanted to live in peace instead of using deadly force to exercise domination over land and people who have an equal right to be there.
I used to have sympathy for Israel and felt willing to support them in their struggle to make a place for themselves in the world. But today I regard them in the same way I see their historic equivalent in Apartheid-era South Africa.
Israel is exploiting the United States and making us complicit in crimes against humanity in the interests of regional domination. They are not our friends and give only lip service to our cherished institutions and values. We are diminished by our willingness to tolerate their behavior.
37
@Patrick Borunda
I agree - I also used to be very pro Israel but have slowly changed, starting with the Pollard affair and the fact they have never stopped spying on us. I've listened to regular Israelis a complete lack of empathy for anyone not Israeli (even to include American Jews who don't toe the party line). I didn't like the way they portrayed Obama. And Netanyahu just seems to be an earlier version of Trump (Israel first!), just as mean, nasty and vindictive, only brighter. Israel does not appear to be a friend of the US anymore. If you only support Republicans, you are turning your back on a majority of Americans, and I thought Israel used to be different. And my entire shift in attitude is primarily due to Israeli actions. I'm ashamed to say I didn't really pay attention to the Palestinian talking points until recently. They deserve to be heard. If someone had shot an white blond female American civilian medic, with the people responsible for the killing basically saying "Ooops", Fox News would be screaming for retaliatory strikes 24/7. The Israeli government can't even pretend remorse over Rouzan's death. I don't want to support people like that.
5
Yes there are people who will step up and defend Israel from this sort of slanderous one-sided reporting. Thank God.
6
All those that try to justify the killing in the comments section are just a bunch of hard core hypocrites, just imagine the roles being reversed, these same hypocrites would argue the killings as a form of genocide.
16
Imagine that armed people were knocking on your front door and attempting to knock it down. They said that they will murder you because of your religion if you let them in. You have a gun. Do you sit there and wait to die or take action?
19
@Jake
No one was “knocking on your front door”. The Palesitians have been brutalized and terrorized by Israelis for decades. Shameful and unforgivable.
17
You do realize I’m sure that Israel gave up Gaza 12 years ago, and has never initiated an attack on Gaza?
13
Let’s correct this: the people knocking on the front door were unarmed; it wasn’t your house, but theirs you threw them violently out of previously; and you shot them before they even reached your porch.
12
In the course of your exhaustive reporting you must have learned the shooter's name. However, I suspect anonymity was the price of the Israeli military's very limited cooperation. It's time to begin publishing the names of killers.
16
@MSY
How about publishing the names of people who indiscriminately fire rockets over borders with the intention of inflicting death on innocent civilians?
16
You mean the ones who are met with disproportionate carnage in response from the occupiers?
5
@Cliff
Actually, as you were never in the military or a police force you didn't learn the first rule is to inflict greater damage (carnage, if you will) than is intended toward you. Besides, the air currents do not allow the IDF to send back kites carry bombs into Gaza anyway. What did you suggest. The IDF also throw rocks and smoke bombs and burning tires at the crazies? This is war. Get over it.
5
Wow, if this is the worst accusation that can be leveled against Israel, then they are a remarkably cautious and morally vigilant set of soldiers. Let's review:
- There is an imminent threat of breach of the border by sworn enemies that have expressed a desire to enter Israel and kill Israelis.
- Everyone at the border is fully aware of the situation, including of the fact that many in the crowd have expressed a plan to breach the border and to kill Israelis, as well as of the dangers of being in the area.
- Nevertheless, through all of this violent and dangerous situation, there are very few civilian casualties, even with crowds of hundreds attempting to breach the fence all day, throwing firebombs, burning tires and so on.
- However, a very small number of incidents occur in which participants not themselves actively pursuing violence are shot, under unclear and confusing circumstances.
- Israel open criminal investigations into these deaths.
If this is the harshest criticism that can be leveled against Israel, then I say they are a remarkably moral and disciplined army, comparable to few in the world. I can imagine few armies faced with this level of threat, taking this amount of precautions not to hurt innocent people. Certainly not the US army, and most certainly not the Palestinians.
33
@Jay
Crowds of thousands.
2
@Jay ...certainly not the Palestinians, indeed. They have no army. Israel does. And soldiers in the their army are responsible for numerous civilian deaths. The Palestinians are comparatively powerless; displaced; degraded; demoralized. And their lives utterly devalued by the Israeli army.
2
@Jay
.....or Syrians, or Yemen, or any other place undergoing horrendous massacres of Muslims by Muslims as we speak or write.
6
I was taken aback by the article's analysis, and the hours spent to "investigate" the death of the medic. The bias is very clear, the death unfortunate. I would recommend the writers spend some time on the Israeli side facing the insanity and chaos on its border, seeing the destruction in the fields from balloons and kites, the fear every Israeli feels daily, knowing that loosing the battle means simply annihilation in the hands of Hamas, or in the North, Hezbollah, Syria, and further beyond Iran. Apparently, the 8.9 million people in Israel is the cause of all Evils and a huge bother to 350 million Arabs in the region. The double standard Israel faces in the world, is unparalleled.
Peace is every Israeli's dream. We left Gaza over 12 years ago, and most of Gaza's resources and billions of dollars in aid has gone to war and tunnels. By now they could have built a NYC subway with the tunnels. The turning of the tables on the narrative about Israel, BDS included, approximates a pre world war II narrative.
41
Kites and balloons and crops on fire are now a legitimate reason for shooting a teenage paramedic?
Clearly the writers have spent significant amounts of time on the border.
You have over-generalised ad absurdum. Firstly, Hamas are clearly reprehensible actors who have committed countless crimes. But to say that organisation by itself could ‘annihilate’ Israel is ridiculous: they barely have the manpower to administer Gaza and Israel has main battle tanks and nukes. And yet this is the reason given for the brutality visited on all Palestinians, Hamas member or not.
But that is irrelevant because this story is not about a ‘battle’ or Israel’s foreign policy with Iran, it is about a specific instance in a protest (not a battle) where a girl was callously shot while giving medical aid to people protesting life in an apartheid prison. The excuse every time yet another unarmed, non-threatening civilian is shot cannot just be “Iran hates us! Look at Hezbollah! Why hasn’t Hamas built a subway?”. None of those explain why so many Palestinian civilians are dying, why Likud refuses to negotiate peace in good faith, or why my tax dollars should underwrite the IDF taking pot-shots at medics and bulldozing schools.
16
@Chris
This was not a girl, It was, as the article clearly and emphatically described, an educated medic, and in a war, medics get injured or die, just as journalists, for example are injured or die, as unfortunate as it may be. It is a risk she has consciously and willingly taken, placing herself in an organized ongoing violent protest, with a Hamas agenda, which is well known. She was not targeted. The fence is there for a reason. It was not always there and I hope and pray that one day it will be a peaceful border, but a border nevertheless, as with any other country in the world. I agree with you that Hamas does not pose a direct catastrophic danger, however, strategically it depletes resources needed in potential and probable Northern campaigns. Furthermore, it is demoralizing and wearing, for people who seek to promote peace and open channels of communication, on both sides of the fence, when extremists dictate a destructive agenda. Say as you wish, but the Israeli Army is probably the most restrained army in the world, often to our detriment, certainly more than the USA armed forces. No country in the world would tolerate the threats we face daily. Finally, equating apartheid with the situation at Gaza is another preposterous argument. This is not a racial subjugation, it is a Land and Territory dispute and an intolerance of the Arab world to a Jewish State that began prior to the 1948 war if you care to trace back the history of the conflict.
13
A “war” happens when both sides have some possible chance of winning. In this case it is Israel, backed by four billion dollars a year in US aid and military support pummeling Palestinians who might be lucky if they can find an AK-47, launch a primitive rocket or roll a fiery tire toward the border.
6
Until the Israeli people are more demanding of restraint to prevent civilian casualties, and of justice to punish those who do, the IDF will perpetrate and get away with murder. Unfortunately, in Israel there is way too much bitterness. I think most people there don't care if a civilian is killed in the crossfire, as long as it's the other side.
On the other hand, IDF has rules they are supposed to obey. I applaud your investigation of this matter. Maybe it will help, to some degree anyway, to hold people accountable and increase awareness.
6
Whenever a non-combatant perishes in a conflict zone it is a horrific tragedy, difficult to comprehend and not readily resolvable by means of a juridical process. The Times has done a valiant job to illustrate how one death in the Gaza fence fight arena might have been attributable to wrongful, legally actionable Israeli military conduct. Yet, as the article concludes, the story of the Gaza fence crisis is one with no simple answers, and the Israeli perspective on the conflict has never been completely de-legitimized. Viewed broady, it would be far far better if Gazans stopped trying to breach the fence, and it would be an equally happier day if Israel did not have to shoot at Gazan people who are doing so.
Yet we readers who care about this situation do not exist in such a happy reality. We read, and we weep. That makes for an unhappy news story. Sadness predominates this ancient conflict yet again!!
4
This will never resolve itself...............this will always be true.
It's really sad, our world is really sad. How does one pick a side to be on ? Here in America if you are an undocumented person and kill someone the news carries on as if you were Godzilla. An american man that kills his entire family, meh, not so important.
We carry on about the children that die at the border, but not so much for the starving Yemen children.My heart is global, it encompasses our world we live in. I used to think we were civilized, but it does help to know we are not.
7
An historical and hypocritical double-standard:
Israelis, because they are perceived by the West to be of European heritage and culture, are expected and required by the West to be “the most reasonable party”.
11
I'd say that a higher standard, the one applied to Western democracies, is justified and appropriate. Israel is firstly, by far, the stronger party and, despite the argument that it "gave back' Gaza, controls the borders around it and is in a position to alleviate the suffering there. Israel, secondly, receives disproportionate American public and private private aid, and wields an unusual degree of direct and indirect influence in U.S. politics (e.g. Netanyahu's speeches before Congress, AIPAC, pro-Israel political donors, the Senate anti-BDS bill and state anti-BDS laws). We enable Israel's policies in a way that we do not with, say, Myanmar. Now, should Israel be an exception to democratic norms and human rights standards? Perhaps it is time to frame the conversation that way.
5
@AJNY
Read about the Kunduz hospital airstrike: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kunduz_hospital_airstrike
Please update us, and yourself, what was the nationality of the attackers, who was the ultimate commander of this attack, and how were they held responsible for their actions?
As for Myanmar, you might want to have a look this photo : https://www.gettyimages.ae/detail/news-photo/president-barack-obama-meets-with-nobel-peace-prize-winner-news-photo/152364072
... and remind us, and yourself, what is the significance of these people, the regimes they are part of, the similarity in their actions, and well .... maybe *he* cannot influence *her* regime .... but did he ever even try ... or maybe, he cannot influence her because their militaries behave the same...?
And then maybe you will arrive at why we frame the conversation around - double-standards and hypocritical anti-semitism.
Comments are not available for your other article on this, but I thought to myself when I read the headline, it’s interesting how it’s never “more complicated” when an Israeli gets killed. But Palestinians? Meh. Nobody cares.
17
The funny thing is no one has to spend 5 mins let alone 5 months investigating any innocent Israeli deaths at the hands of Palestinians as they loudly and proudly proclaim their joy at the murder of innocents, why they are even rewarded which is progressive to the barbarity of the attack,
Going through this entire article and the exhaustive reporting the times still cannot say if the medic was intentionally targeted,
But one thing is clear there were violent protests by Hamas that day,
The conclusion that the article and many of the commentators is that Israeli soldiers indiscriminately targeted innocent people but that flies in the face of reality which is that if that were true thousands would have been killed that day.
It’s to much to ask for any human being to value another humans life more then they value their own,
39
@Ray L
Did you read that the soldier firing the shot was a sniper. Behind a sand berm. Firing bullets that ricochet by design. And that the Palestinians were pulling on the wires with their bare hands. And throwing stones. In Gaza, which Israel and Egypt have under a terrifying seige.
And you defend Israel and wonder why it is criticized.
12
Just out of curiosity can you answer this: what if Israel allows Gazans to breach the border. What then? Do you think they’d want to kill Israelis or not.
10
I’m confused after reading the article because the editorial objective of the piece was to blame Israel for the intentional murder of a medic, but at the end of the article it clearly states the bullet was a ricochete.
46
It ricocheted while the targets were the medics which is a crime
4
@Kevin
Simply, the article should have been marked "Editorial".
2
Anti-BDS laws and live-fire against protesters dozens of yards away. Two pages from the same book.
12
Disgusting behavior of the IDF. But not the first time.
When is the world finally going to react to try to stop this inhumane behavior of Israel?
17
The truth is that what is missing in this story is the broader context of why these riots occurred. That responsibility lies squarely with the Hamas leadership. Yes, what happened is a tragedy. But Hamas is inciting its own population to put itself in harm’s way. Unfortunately, there are so many biases agendas implicit in the NYT reporting that your readership is effectively being misled by a form of propaganda.
56
@Independent
Just as Israel, I suppose, put itself in harm's way by declaring independence.
5
@zootsuit
And there it is...
6
@zootsuit
Seriously? It was a UN decision to give the Jews a state so that its people do not face a similar predicament again, which apropos, now "respectable" persons openly deny the Holocaust ever happened or muddle the numbers and defuse the concept of a Genocide, not to mention that the majority of young people in the USA or around the world never even heard about the Holocaust.
5
And we are told that Israeli soldiers are the more human warriors in the whole world. Thank you.
4
So now, according to nyt, a ricocheted bullet that didn't hit its target is a war crime? A bit overzealous, aren't we? I guess if you put all that time, money, resources, and extra consultants into something, it would be hard to admit it didn't confirm your prejudgment.
53
The Times never directly accuses anyone of committing a war crime. It does, however, repeatedly suggest that the Israeli sniper was reckless as to causing death. Reckless is a legal term which implies a morally culpable state which is less than full intent.
I don’t know what the case law on recklessness in International Humanitarian Law is, but I would suggest that the Times is merely relaying the learned opinion of the IHL experts that the shooting of Ms. al-Najjar may be justiciable. That is, there may be a case that the sniper who killed a young, unarmed, medic in a uniform which clearly demarcated her role may have done so against Rule 25 of the ICRC’s Database on Customary IHL, which protects medical personnel. These rules are laid out by the 1st, 2nd, & 4th Geneva Conventions, and extended to non-international armed conflict (which is debatable the case here) by Additional Protocol II.
Any ‘war crimes’ (IHL) case would probably break new legal ground as the prosecution would likely have to argue that a person can recklessly commit a war crime (I don’t know if there is case law on that but I doubt it). Further, the Israeli Govt has been especially dismissive of the application of int’l law to the IDF.
At the very least the sniper is likely guilty of manslaughter in the Israeli criminal code, although the case of Elor Azaria shows that this would probably lead to a wrist slap, if that.
10
@Chris. Thousands of children in Yemen are starving, and the NYT spent how much time on this death because they had interviewed her. Stalin was right—the death of one is tragic; the death of a million a statistic.
What does the NYT seek by this article?
14
@Citizen60
And front page at that. When a country of 8.9 million people is every day in the news and condemned more than any other state in the UN, the bias is clear.
5
Tragic story, but, war crime ? How is it the New York Times is always very critical of Israel’s right to protect and defend itself ? . What are the protesters aiming for ? Killing innocent Jews no more and no less. Would that be a war crime ? No, because the terrorists are not an “army” . Where is the condemnation of Hamas as an accessory to this so called “war crime” . It’s a simple case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, being forewarned by Israel that it will protect its citizens with whatever it takes to do so. If there were no useless protests, there would be no casualties.
46
Where is the “in-depth Times reporting” on the violent Palestinian attack on the Israeli border that led to this medic’s death? Gee, I must have missed it. When violently storming the border of another country one might expect some deaths to occur. Exactly who started this attack on the Israeli border? A terrorist groupie - Hamas. You can blame them - and anyone who participated in this violent attack on sovereign Israeli soil for the death of this medic and any other deaths that occurred.
In he meantime, I’ll continue to hold my breath and wait for the “in-depth reporting” on what actually happened when Hamas deliberately attacked the Israeli border.
48
@XLER
Please note my comment which happens to appear just below yours.
"Storming a fence" is not a "violent Palestinian attack" You did catch one of my errors, the leaders were probably "Violence" not "Party of God" is the ruler currently. The last good government was the PLO, which negotiated some land for peace, along with Israeli prime ministers, one out due to old age, and one assassinated by a Jewish Israeli madman.
By this logic, things like the Trump Fence and the Berlin Wall were dynamite ideas.
Under agreements killed by both Hamas and Netenyahu, residents of Gaza could walk through the border, with appropriate papers (read green cards or passports) and go to work in Israel, helping people stuck living in the 'Strip, one of the most overcrowded places in the world (you don't see much of this on the West Bank Palestinian region - plenty of room there and more openness). With three good governments in place, the obvious solution for Gaza would be to convince Egypt to give up a few miles of Sinai scrub they don't want, and there to reach a point when " nor will a people and a people [commit] violence" (Sounds much better as Hebrew poetry). Gazans will not feel like rats in an overfilled cage (no insult, just an experimental example) and will have access to job opportunities - with a ban on weapons imports.
Who needs weapons when one can walk/drive across a border for "the best fallafal this side of Jerusalem", and Israel helps expanded Gaza make desert bloom?
1
It is called a protest at a border where people are blockaded in. Lift the prison walls for God's sake.
2
I find both the insanity of the Gaza generals’ dressing young men in shoot-me yellow to attack the fence;
And the IDF’s use of snipers rather than tear gas;
Equally Abhorrent and Vile.
But the Times dumped resources into tracing a single shot - because it killed a dedicated volunteer medic - and friend of the reporters.
Without context, this work is very impressive but poor journalism.
Calling the act a “war crime” by ONE side is absurd.
An apparently very large metal-jacketed bullet (the reporters must know exactly what was fired, possibly by whom) missed its target, shattered in the dirt, by design, and a chunk killed a friend of the NYT.’s reporters - first clue it was time for them to step back.
The truth was the third casualty of war thar day, which began with sending kids to attack the fence where those in control know hyped up, angry IDF SNIPRS - NOT armed with tear gas mortars, were waiting for a game of Let’s Make a Martyr, vile action by leaders on both sides.
Both sides were under orders from bad national leaders trying to hold onto power.
IDF troops should have used gas grenades, which rarely injure but cause panic, leaving medics washing kids’ eyes and closing self-inflicted razor wire cuts.
But good reporting means don’t go overboard because the day’s martyr was a friend, leaving out context - Hesballah rockets at night, closed borders starving overcrowded city, daily provocation met by overblown response.
That was the story here.
Not War Crime Kills Friend.
9
A daily reader of the New York Times for more than 50 years, this article ranks high among the most misbegotten, ill-conceived, inane "news" reports I can ever remember reading in it.
There is a war going on. Terrible things happen in wars.
For 70 years now, the Palestinians -- with little help from Israel -- have rendered their own cause illegitimate by waging permanent war and terror against its legitimate neighbor; and by strenuously resisting all efforts by Israel to normalize its presence in the Middle East.
The Palestinian project is near collapse today, internally and externally, economically and politically. The West Bank and Gaza are fiefdoms of graft, bribery and corruption, utterly dependent today for their basic needs on the kindness of strangers and Israel.
Will the Times next be launching a major investigation and reporting sympathetically on the efforts by Hamas to regain "their land" by tunneling into Israel?
65
@A. Stanton
Gaza is an open air prison; nothing gets in or leaves without Israel's permission. The West Bank is populated by violent Russian Jews invited into Israel; however, they are not wanted in Tel Aviv, so they have been sent to the West Bank. They are free to bull doze Palestinian homes, man checkpoints, and generally use whatever force they choose. Israel is a sophisticated, militarized State; Palestine is not. Hamas is a threat; still, the odds are in Israel's favor. Finally, what happened to the '67 Agreement regarding land acquisition? As I recall there were American Jewish farmers living peacefully with their neighbors. Then Truman declared the State of Israel against advice from both sides. Perhaps Bavaria should have been given to European Jews, rather than land lost from a diaspora 2,000 yrs ago. There has not been any peace there for decades.
14
@Linda Miilu
Let’s give California back to Spain, where do you intend to live then. It seems only the Jewish people cannot return home.
12
@Linda Miilu
And you know all that from where?
3
The barbed fence built by Israel is obviously on Gaza land. And the Gazans are away from the fence by 100 yards. Who are the infiltrators here? Lethal force only after tear gas? 160 unintentional deaths reported by Israeli army itself? " We will destroy you if you breach you our borders " says Prime Minister Netanyahu. Who has breached the border?
Israel is guilty. Period. Any explanation of Israeli conduct is not justifiable with facts. And it took a brave medic, Rouzan's death to make the world take notice about how Israel is breaking humanitarian laws on a regular basis. The whole situation is so inhumane. And the blame rests solely with Israel. Cowards! And America will support Israel with guns and prevent any action against Israel at the Security Council. Just like Khashoggi's death to take notice of the inhumanity wrought on Yemen by another ally - Saudi Arabia with our guns! And now Rouzan in death.
10
After months of investigation, interviewing more than 60 people and viewing more than 1,000 videos and photographs, the Times' primary takeaway from the death of Rouzan al-Najjar is the "cost of Israel’s use of battlefield weapons to control the protests"? You've got to be kidding me. Did you not read your own findings? That Ms. al-Najjar was reckless, deliberately placed herself in harm's way, wanted to make a name for herself, referred to her bloodstained uniform as the "sweetest perfume" and essentially welcomed martyrdom. If you ask me, she unfortunately got exactly what she wanted. The only appropriate takeaway from her death and the deaths of the other Palestinians in the midst of violent protests is that these protests have accomplished nothing and will accomplish nothing other than resulting in a colossal waste of human life.
43
@Jay Orchard
But you are missing a point. Palestinians are being choked to death and they are fighting for freedom
4
Sure - blame the victim. Shame on that medic wearing a medic's coat with her hands up in the air standing in the killing field and tending to the wounded. Really?
3
@Jay Orchard
It's also a colossal waste of journalism.
5
This looks familiar.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpIRPMcsSe4
If you go to a riot, you have to expect that you might get hurt, or killed. You have a mob of people, storming your border, pulling down the fencing, throwing rocks, fire bombs, etc...What you want them to do? Take it? If you riot, you are likely to get hurt, or killed. It's part of the revolution...bad things happen.
31
This is one of the most important pieces that appeared in the NYT in a long time.
It should be used as laboratory material to study the real and deep Jew Hatred that plagued humanity these days. Yet one more time.
Please see the last image. Now, notice the bullet trajectory. There's no way for even the major champ sniper to bend a bullet direction after being fired. That in itself should sufice more than enough to discredit the whole argument.
And, if I may, if any of all these "knowledgeable" readers bother to study the conflict's historical background, and the instructions in Arabic provided to the "peaceful" demonstrators, you will find that the aim was to RETURN to the area on the other side and clear instructions what to do to Jews when found.
Any, ANY other nation on Earth will react in a much more severe manner facing "illegal" trespassers. In fact they do, all the time, everywhere.
It is so sad to experience such demagogic analysis, one containing EVEN such a clear graphic dislegitimizing the whole argument ... with a secret agenda. Sad!
31
I look forward to the follow-up piece on the dozens of volunteer medics that have died from chemical warfare in Syria.
22
@Independent
But this article is about a innocent noble woman who was butchered by terrorists
2
@Independent The NYT Magazine and the paper in general have published exhaustive proof that Bashir al-Assad's troops used chemical weapons to exterminate villages.
Reporters traced the source of the weaponry.
We were protecting the Kurds and the al-Assad resistors, it was Trump's first military cutback in the region, because 'they might hit Russians' doing the work for him we, and 23 other US allies put together by Obama's State Department (guess who did the work) while taking steps before various world bodies to condemn the gas attacks.
Vladimir Putin was upset. Donald Trump won the electoral vote he lost by more than 2,8 and less than 3 million voters.
When Muler makes his report, probably to the House if the Senate allows Trump's appointee to serve as AG and oversee an investigation in violation of the DoJ Inspector General's Office, we will find out whether Trump just likes Putin and is allowing him to grab Syria as a client-state, possibly breaking Turkey free of NATO because World War I should have been followed with a declaration of a Kurdish homeland in Syria and Turkey, as well as a Jewish homeland.
Like other Islamic lands belonging to different peoples, Turkey and Syria were formed as borders slashed on a map without much thought, except for the action of France. Controlling Lebanon, they demanded it as a remnant of the Crusader Acre.
2
What the article clearly states, is that the sniper did not aim at the woman, but that the bullet bounced off the ground. See the graphic towards the end of the article which should have been put front and center in the first paragraph.
37
@Perspective
Why were snipers using live fire against a mob?
7
@Linda Miilu. Which is like asking why the Palestinians were doing all they could to breach the fence.
Each side feels entirely justified doing what they dogiven their historical perspective of this conflict.
6
Thank you to the New York Time for your brave reporting. As an American Jew it saddens me to see what has happened to Israel in its many failures of leadership at the top.
Bibi Netanyahu has a lot of blood on his hands. He hasn’t made Israel safer or more secure - he has morally undermined his country. A country that loses its moral compass and cannot know right from wrong - is lost.
American Jews support the people of Israel but we also believe in showing compassion, restraint and not covering up the murder of innocents. Israel is now (like the USA) lost in a sea of nationalism.
19
For 70 years now, the Palestinians -- with little help from Israel -- have rendered their own cause illegitimate by waging permanent war and terror against its legitimate neighbor; and by resisting all efforts by Israel to normalize its presence in the Middle East.
The Palestinian project is near collapse today, internally and externally, economically and politically. The West Bank and Gaza are fiefdoms of graft, bribery and corruption, utterly dependent today for their basic needs on the kindness of strangers and Israel.
Good intentions are never enough.
If Rouzan al-Najjar had really wanted to help her people, she would have been out protesting her very own leaders.
27
I think you forget what would happen to any Gazan who protests Hamas. There is no freedom of speech in Gaza or any other freedom for that matter.
4
I thank the NYT for this incredible investigative reporting and courageous journalism. Courageous because in this country you can criticize everything and everyone except Israel and its policies because you would immediately be branded as Anti-Semite (or Self-Hating Jew - if you are Jewish - whatever that means) and no politician would dare to say anything critical of Israel because it would be political suicide and they would be destroyed by AIPAC.
Even the BDS movement is branded as Anti-Semitic; US government uses economic sanctions as its official policy against countries and individuals all the time, even restricts American citizens' movement abroad (until recently it was illegal for an American to travel to Cuba). And yet, when individuals or businesses decide to boycott Israel, then it is Anti-Semitic somehow; I would believe those people's sincerity when they speak against US boycotts and economic sanctions.
Palestinian-Israeli conflict is complicated and no side is 100% right or wrong and both sides have committed atrocities. But I don't understand the Israel-could-do-no-wrong attitude in this country and I am sick and tired of my tax dollars supporting Israel (by far the largest recipient of US foreign aid). As long as US continues to support Israel unconditionally, they will continue to act like a spoiled child and have no reason or incentive to compromise.
13
Bravo, NYT for the objectivity and the meticulousness that went into piecing this all together. While the condemnation appears somewhat reserved, the effort is nonetheless appreciated!
The unabashed killing of civilians, medics and volunteers is nothing short of a WAR CRIME and needs to be met with the full force of international laws and a litany of sanctions. I know, a pipe dream but one can only hope!
From Rachel (Corrie) to Rouzan, there are just too many innocent lives being taken, all on international watch for the appeasement of the ‘oppressed’ who no longer have the moral compass nor any standing left to call themselves the ‘victims’.
They are the OPPRESSORS with Apartheid tendencies that would make their own Holocaust-era ancestors turn in their graves with shame and horror!
They are War criminals, no two ways about it!
10
NYT retraced the path of the bullet? Completely unscientific.
She was clearly mixed right in with “protestors.” She took that risk in a war torn area. NYT didn’t recreate her moves prior to being shot. Isn’t there enough news to report here?
11
@Kimbo
Was she an armed combatant? Do our police shoot into protesting mobs with live fire? No.
The IDF will do absolutely nothing to prosecute this crime. The corrupt leadership of Israel stands for nothing less.
3
@John Archer
I still remember when Bibi stood in Congress and insulted a sitting President Obama; he was applauded by a Republican Congress. He is a boor who has taken credit for his brother's heroism at Entebbe. He and his wife are both corrupt, as is their Likud government. WWII ended more than 70 yrs. ago; it is way past time to refer to the Holocaust whenever Israel is criticized. I am of half Irish descent, and don't support using the Famine as an excuse for bad behavior on the part of Ireland. Chinese children still hear horror stories of the Japanese occupation from grandparents. We need to move past these historic events; they do not excuse bad behavior in our current world.
2
Wow... something is changing. I went through all of the comments and only one was not against the Israeli violence (of course this may change when more comments are added). finally as more people recognise what actually is going on will it eventually stop !!
NYTimes, your journalism is nonpareil. Thank you for the depth and determination of this story, and the desire to probe it in the first place.
I would be very curious to see what—if any—outcome it leads to within the Israeli forces and if any punishment or change in policy for the use of deadly force is even debated over, after this story exposes Israel’s claims and excuses for such wanton, deadly recklessness.
NYTimes, please report a follow-up.
6
Glad you allowed comments here since no comments are open on the primary article. The primary article, though well-written, certainly softens the terminology when it comes to addressing what are clearly criminal and murderous acts by the Israelis. Until we start calling the Israeli occupation of Palestine the true abomination that it is and until we start calling the Israeli killing of Palestinians the murder that it really is, American taxpayers will continue to fund these atrocities. And, knowing American history since world war two, we would likely fund these atrocities even if we do call them what they really are.
5
I'm often disappointed by the NYTimes' reporting of the Israeli Palestinian conflict where the victims are often portrayed as agitators and instigators of violence and the oppressors' crimes are whitewashed. Today, The NYTimes has definitely earned my respect with this piece of investigative reporting. Excellent work.
6
I've tried to share my thoughts but they have gone unpublished. Of course, "The Times needs your voice. We welcome your on-topic commentary, criticism and expertise. Comments are moderated for civility." But that's only if you happen to agree with the paper's narrative.
6
Israel is not smart enough nor do they have the leadership to solve the problem with the Palestinians. Basically Israel does not want to solve the problem. Too bad Israel does not stand on moral or ethical ground and I doubt they every will since they are a closed society that fears the World. DJM
4
Thanks to modern technology we have atrocities being committed by stated-led, institution-led perpetrators caught on cameras and videos by citizens in real time and place. No more is the official version of crimes believed as holy grail. The raw, bald brutality wrought on the victims is unedited, gruesome, facts and real truths laid bare. Yet there is not a real improvement in behavior of these felons. This is because the state or the institution believe the criminals, give them a slap on the wrist and protect them with excuses beyond absurdity, in spite of hard evidence to the contrary. America will continue to support Israel, Saudi Arabia, the police will support their own and felons who commit treason will get a slap on the wrist. The greatest irony is all Americans and the citizens of the world believe in the rule of Law. What law? Especially that one - the Humanitarian Law!
1
ֵExcellent reporting with the exception of the last part of the title, 'Was it an accident?'. Without going into questioning of why Palestinian demonstrators feel the need to charge the border fence or examining the IDF's rules of engagement, it is quite clear that being hit by a ricochet bullet or its fragments was a clear unintended accident.
11
But what could have been the intent of the shot?
3
@Mark. A mistake by a tense, hot soldier. Everyone makes mistakes, no matter how sad the outcome.
5
Why no mention of the thousands of balloons carrying materials that started hundreds of fires? More important, how about as detailed an expose on the life of an 18 year old soldier on the other side of the fence? This special young woman, tragically died because of Hamas' willingness to encourage martyrs. (Israel punishes its soldiers when found guilty. The investigation is still going on.)
21
Another barrier between nations, another innocent death caused by extreme political tactics. Another tragedy.
4
I hate to see the loss of life. However, it's important to remember that Hamas, the Palestinian leadership, and the majority of Palestinians want to destroy Israeli and replace it with a Palestinian state, 'From the River to the Sea.' The Gaza protests on the border, including this awful incident, is/was part of the strategy to accomplish this goal. The NY Times credibility is diminished when that overall goal isn't made clear.
19
Is all of this really necessary? This was not the JFK assassination. Palestinians in Gaza have created their bed and now they have to sleep in it. They support, or at least, tolerate Hamas and support its intransigence. I am tired of hearing about Palestinian "martyrdom." The Palestinians are the problem. Israel is not. Israel does not have to tie itself down with endlessly restrictive rules of engagement against terrorists. The best solution for Gaza and its population would be resettlement elsewhere in the Arab world. But the Arabs hate the Palestinians, so all the blame settles on Israel.
27
The 3D model of the scene illustrates just how reckless the shot was. Imagine seeing it from the sniper rifle's scope: there would have been at least 5 people visible in the crosshairs. How could you ever take such a shot in good conscience? You could only do so if you were immersed in a culture where you did not fear the consequences of the laws of war.
5
The death of this young woman, tragic though it is, hardly tells the entire story; a single act rarely does. The manifesto of Hamas calls for the destruction Israel and rockets are regularly fired into Israel from Gaza. Tunnels were dug and Israelis captured and/or killed. Certainly peace between these adversaries would be preferred, but it requires a good faith effort of all parties. If Israel laid down its arms, took down the fence and allowed Hamas free access to Israel, is there any doubt what would happen in light of Hamas’s acknowledged goal to destroy Israel?
28
Excellent journalism. Thank you.
1
Guns don't kill people. People kill people -- with guns. Again. Again. Again. Everywhere on earth. Different contexts, sure. Results are the same. Killing unarmed, non-threatening individuals is wrong. Period.
5
When I put up a fence, post "NO TRESPASSING" signs all along it, warn that violators are putting themselves in mortal danger, and in fact shoot several violators, normally that is ample warning not to aid and abet those who are trying to tear down and cross my fence.
Meanwhile, if the Gazans want to see what a severe response to tearing down fences looks like, they should head west toward their separation fence with Egypt -- another country that only allows in humanitarian aid because of past Gazan terrorism against its citizens -- then try to tear down that barrier and rush into Egypt proper. The Egyptian military reaction will make Israel's look like child's play, and Gazans know it. That's why they don't dare try it. and why there are no stories about it in the NYT.
32
The Gazans put themselves into these predicaments. If the Gazans would behave themselves and not try to invade their neighbor Israel and shoot at them and send flaming drones and projectiles at them they would live peacefully.
But no, their objective, as stated in the main article connected with this piece, is to regain property that was lost, which is unrealistic fantasy.
This is, of course, a component of a plot hatched by the fake, illegitimate so-called "islamic republic of Iran" which supports Hamas and encourages Hamas to do these things to undermine Israel.
If the Gazans resolved to live in peace perhaps, as part of an overall peace settlement affecting the places in question, Gazans who lost land and property can interpose claims for Just Compensation as under the legal Doctine of Eminent Domain.
The further fact is that right now Gaza is a big nothing. It's not Israel, it's not Egypt. The UN, when it reconvenes shoud declare that going forward Gaza is an independent state. Maybe then Gaza will start acting normal like the other states in the world. The tricky, but not impossible, part will be keeping the Iranians out of the mix.
13
@MIKEinNYC
After the U.S. and BP Oil took down an elected leader, Mossadegh, Iran has no reason to trust us. The Saudis and Israelis now threaten Iran. The Saudis are now dropping U.S. made bombs on Yemeni civilians. We don't seem to mind that, even though Yemen is a port our military uses. Our alliance with SA is murky with Mid-East politics, and tainted by the recent murder of a journalist by Saudi assassins. Gaza is just one part of this mess.
1
Whether you agree with the government of Iran or not, it is clearly not illegitimate. It is a theocracy that has democratic elements and the people of Iran seem reasonably satisfied with that. The issue for Iran is that Israel has manipulated the US into believing that Iran is somehow an existential threat to the US when it clearly is not.
@Cliff
Iran clearly is an illegitimate state. It is ruled by unelected, illegitimate, Twelver, religious fanatics who took over the country by force and who run around in 7th century costumes and headgear doing what they do to encourage, in their minds, the coming out of a savior, a twelfth imam called Al Mahdi. They believe that Al will show up with Jesus to redeem the world.
Imagine that the Mafia took over Italy by force. Would anyone recognize the Mafia as Italy's legitimate government? Same thing with Iran.
4
The day Israel left Gaza, Palestinians were standing at a fork in the road. Slowly develop Gaza as a thriving beach community with great surf, and sandy beach breaks, using the vast glass houses that were left behind for agriculture, or hold the militant line of the Hamas- looking to free Israel from the infidels (Jews). Myself and millions of left leaning Israelis were holding our breath with hope that the non militant route will be chosen, effectively disarming the Israeli right with a case study of: "Look what happens when Palestinians are given their land back- they can compete with Israel on a new a refreshing front- high tech and tourism, and whatever... that did not happen. Even today- what do you think would have happened if tomorrow Hamas announces the militant phase (In Gaze only) is over, and focus all energy and funding on health care, infrastructure etc? Initial the Israeli right would call it a bluff. But a few months later it would have no other choice but lift all limits of travel and product. It is still possible. It only requires that thousands of professional soldiers in Gaza will get funding for civil jobs. Hamas and Hezbollah are more than anything professional armies that by nature resist any change that might weaken their respective role in their communities. And to those who would say well why don't Israel disarm too. This is not about fairness, it is about creating a new reality for the youth of Gaza, and Israel. Baby steps...
16
Much more context needed about impact of blockade on Gazans —yes, complicated and enough blame to go around, but sidebar on history would have been both honorable and useful.
3
@GilR
You have a revisionist view of history. What actually happened was the Jewish population blowing up everything in sight as they reluctantly left Gaza to accept the compensation paid to them to rebuild or purchase property elsewhere in Israel.
@LT73 Frankly I'm not in a position to argue this point this way or another- as I was not there. I suspect neither were you. I read reports of homes being demolished but that Ag facilities left behind and destroyed by Hamas. But frankly that was not the point of my comment the main point is forward looking: Will Hamas ever decide it is more important to secure a future for its people, or will it forever prefer to win the political war against PLO, in which it is pegged in the corner of military option forever... I believe they could really pull a strategic victory vs Israeli right if they managed this creatively. That's all I'm saying.
2
Rouzan’s death is tragic and uncalled for, full stop. But can we stop pretending that anything about these protests are peaceful?
There are bombs, rocks, and grenades. People are trying to tear down the fence. What is Israel supposed to do? Let thousands of Gazans move unobstructed into Israeli territory? For years, the world has demanded that Israel retreat to its 1967 borders — so when Israel is criticized for defending those borders it reveals something more sinister— that Israel’s critics don’t care about peace or the Green Line — they believe that Israel and its 8 million Jewish and Arab inhabitants have no right to self defense or even existence.
Egypt also is blockading Gaza. But there are no protests. Gaza is run by a democratically elected terrorist organization that refuses to accept donations of food, water, and supplies from Israel because they cannot be “collaborators”; but Gazans do not protests this either.
So yes, Israel should have held her fire. But let’s not pretend for a second that these protesters aren’t part of a larger effort to delegitimize and dismantle the only Jewish state in the world.
13
Yes, Israel should let the people that they expelled to Gaza and their descendants return home to their property that the Zionists outright stole.
Browne’s and Halbfinger’s reporting on Rouzan brought tears to my eyes. For me, it brought Gaza closer, humanized the Palestinians’ fighting for recognition and dignity, and challenged dominant narratives of victim & terrorist. Thank you for your awe inspiring journalistic rigor, your sensitivity and for putting your hearts into Rouzan’s story.
1
Thank you to the New York Times for your commitment to investigative journalism at its best. The world would be a far less informed place and the truth would be far more threatened without your work.
1
You mention "Videos confirmed that at the moment of the shot he was facing the fence. So the bullet had to have come from the Israeli side, not from behind Mr. Shafee." Why would bullets have come from behind Mr. Shafeee? If these are peaceful demonstrators, why would there be bullets?
Because the fact is, these are not peaceful demonstrators. They have caused millions of dollars of damage to farms with their flying molotov balloons. They have shot at soldiers who are standing on Israeli land. They have planted bombs on the barrier. What do you think their plan is once they break down the barrier, which they are constantly trying to do? To give candies to the other side?
Israel allows people in for medical treatment. Israel let Qatar pass in millions of dollars in aid. This aid goes to build tunnels to be used to attack Israeli civilians. At the very least these funds should be used to build shelters for the civilians that Hamas hides behind when it sends rockets to hit Israeli civilians, provoking the next war.
I would like to see the Times engage in a similarly thorough investigation of the murder of Israelis, which happens all too often, for instance in the Barkan Industrial site which employs Palestinians and Israelis.
18
Rouzan puts a face to this policy of contempt for the very standards which made the creation of
Israel necessary in the first place: justice and humanity and decency. The current Israeli government has strayed too far from the ideals of the founders of that nation as many American Jews believe. Kudos for NYT reporting.
3
When assessing a shooting like this, the question is not what the evidence suggested actually happened. The question is what the shooter believed to have happened. If the shooter believed, in good faith, that he was in danger, then he acted in mistaken self defense. Mistakes on the battlefield are not acts of murder. The battlefield has its own separate rules, applicable to uncontrolled chaos.
4
@michjas
Shooting from back a teen boy, naughty at worst, carrying a tire, walking away from scene unarmed, awarding him with painful death, is not a mistake but a calculated murder (of a humanity in general by any standards)
May her soul rest in peace.
2
Thank you so much for this extraordinary reporting.
4
First, thank you for this article. Aside from being a great piece of journalism I am sure this was an expensive undertaking. Everyone needs to support the free press in voice and monetarily.
What I take from this, besides a tremendous sense of sadness for this life that was taken is the apparent indifference of the Israeli military.
The shooting was apparently against military policy
The sniper, even if thinking it was necessary did not have a “clean” shot, so should have held fire
And most importantly to me - the military is using the wrong ammunition - that it can skip like a stone across the ground.
This sort of indifference speaks volumes.
The government of Israel should have clearer rules of engagement, train their snipers in that policy, reaffirm with their snipers their legal and moral obligations, and equip them with the right ammunition.
We have, and I suppose will always argue about the larger picture of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but nothing in that argument absolves the Israelis of their indifference.
3
This report should win a Pulitzer for classic intense investigative journalism combined with the latest in scientific evaluation and beautifully realized graphic presentation. My brain is in awe as my heart is breaking. A thousand thanks for this.
4
Excellent reporting. Thank you.
3
A commendable job by the NYT in reporting and reconstructing this unfortunate occurrence and its context on the Gaza side. The IDF's reticence in general makes it harder to be fair towards them, but if the author or his reporting bureau had had more experience with armed conflict then the case would have been more balanced. The standard the IDF is held to is above any such standard in history and is virtually impossible to adhere to perfectly. The Gazans feel desperate, it is true. And they don't feel they have other options. But the fact remains that they keep choosing 1) to embrace Hamas, 2) to build tunnels and send deadly rockets and balloons over the border, and 3) to approach the fence en masse with violent implements, threatening the border and the IDF guards. Under these circumstances it is difficult to think of another war zone in all of history where armed forces used so much restraint.
For this reason I think it is inaccurate to call this young lady's death a tragedy, and unfair to claim that the IDF should change their rules of engagement as a result. When someone chooses to put themselves in harm's way and suffers or dies from it, we can admire them and we can bemoan their boldness and we can speak of how it could and should be different; but to call it a tragedy or a war crime or a murder is to ignore the full context, including the very clear and repeated warnings given to the Gazans by the IDF about the potential consequences of these mass attacks.
5
The term I would use to describe my feeling is not anger or sadness its disgust. I do understand the need for protecting the borders of ones nation and I do understand that if you send soldiers to do a diplomat's job you can't expect a peaceful resolution. I myself have been a soldier in the border and I have shot people too, but there is distinct difference between being a professional and and other things. The thing that stopped me from shooting first or using lethal force instead of shooting to stop was, civilian scrutiny. For every single use of force we were investigated by regional prosecutor and suspect or his/her family could have directly sued us for criminal misconduct. I guess if you send in a soldier to do a diplomats job it means you accept the ending as well.
1
My feeling is that from the Israeli side there is a deep feeling that "these people" deserve this, that resistance to occupation is not a concept that is accepted, That this is all about terrorism and security for Israel. Putting more of a human face on this struggle, a more equal view from the opposing side has been sorely needed in mainstream reporting. "These people" are people with aspirations in life, with family connections, and in need of justice.
This is no way for Israel to assure its survival and well being.
6
Reading the articles made me upset. Watching the video of her made me cry. Gaza is such a sad place to live and Rouzan al Najjar was such a brave and beautiful person. Like a lovely flower growing in a patch of weeds. Can't both Hamas and Israeli leaders read these articles, watch the video, feel ashamed, want to find a way to peace, take down the fences and want to share their lives in a positive way. Barriers such as fences and walls don't really make good neighbors but instead only separate us from one another and the understanding needed to live, work and love each other together.
1
The story stopped short of the goal line. I know more, but never enough, about the brave medic. Her actions were widely known and widely praised. Hers is a life that symbolizes in many ways the best in each of us and it is a life to emulate.
I want a name of the Israel soldier who pulled the trigger. His actions also symbolize the values and character of a people. Don’t hide the banner, carry it in the light.
1
Do people know that this wasn’t just a fence?
This is an open prison. There is no way out of Gaza without passing through checkpoints controlled by Israelis. We are witnessing a whole nation fighting for freedom.
10
@Saudi Don't forget the Egyptian border with Gaza.
3
Had the Times had one-tenth these images and tools available during the Kennedy assassination, it would have spared the expenditure of six decades, millions of dollars and countless quantities of human exertion in seeking a plausible and universally accepted explanation for what happened.
It's a tragedy to witness, even from the armchair, that snuffing of a promising life. Compounding that is the failure to understand what really happened. Who is to blame? Why would anyone think this needed to occur? How do we stop this from ever happening again?
In this case immediately at hand, The Times well answered the first two questions, tho with the great expenditure of money, time and human perspiration. But as for the third, well, that's too tough a knot for just one element of society to solve, and that's true whether it be for a political assassination or that of a mere volunteer medic.
In an epoch where it seems that humans have never been rent this far apart, in almost every way, few tribes seem willing to join in stitching up our shared wounds, and no quantity of journalists nor smartphone photographers will ever be able to do it alone.
1
The loss of any life is tragic especially one who in another time and place might have had a completely different trajectory. However, in reading the sub-headline "Was it an Accident?" i assumed throughout the article that Rouzan was targeted and shot despite her medic jacket. It was not until the very end of the article that explained the death was a result of a ricocheting bullet.
It does not lessen the tragedy of her death but a more accurate headline would certainly change the tenor of the article to a tragic accident that occurred in a place of danger rather than the implied intentional killing.
5
The reporting appears to involve considerable effort and points a finger at an inappropriate action by a soldier. Hopefully, and I am Israeli this will be investigated. I will provide a caveat to the conclusions reached b y several other commenters. First, the constantly recycled notion that Israel took the lands from the Palestinians up to 1967 is simply wrong. Jews were willing to accept a partition in 1947, and first the Palestinians and then accompanying Arab States waged war against the small and fledgling country that had been created by the UN, just as it had many of the Middle Eastern countries. Jews made up a small but significant part of the country and not unlike many other settlements b y international bodies it was deemed useful to separate two ethnic groups who had a history of combat. Please note that Arab mobs in the 20s and the 30s attacked and killed many Jews who had been living in areas such as Hebron for more than a hundred years. Subsequently there were more wars waged against Israel by Arab foes, and in each case the consequence was loss of Arab territory. Thus, this was not a people invading another land but a people defending what they had to such a success that after attacks they gained more. I disagree with the expansion of settlements in the West Bank, but let’s not use that inappropriate action to define the history of the State. Second, although appropriate journalism, my bet is far more horrendous acts are being perpetrated by others in war.
6
There is no greater sign of our FAILURE than when we kill each other.
No greater indication of inherent WEAKNESS than the use of force through violence.
And there is no more IMMORAL act that the murder or INDIFFERENT-KILLING of another act.
1
I am young, I am twenty years old; yet I know nothing of life but despair, death, fear, and fatuous superficiality cast over an abyss of sorrow. I see how peoples are set against one another, and in silence, unknowingly, foolishly, obediently, innocently slay one another.
Erich Maria Remarque, All Quiet on the Western Front
1
I think you should have let us comment on the article itself, even though such comments would probably be unpleasant. The WaPo always lets people comment on all of its articles. Here's a manifestly unfair sweeping statement from the main article: "And Israel, the far stronger party, continues to focus on containment rather than finding a solution." Israel has tried to find a solution since it has come into existence. Many peace offers were made to the Palestinians over the past decades; if any of them had been accepted, Palestinians would have been thriving in their own country by now. But no, they weren't accepted because the Palestinians aren't interested in peaceful co-existence with Israel - isn't that obvious? So containment is Israel's only choice if it wants to continue to survive.
6
There seems to be no excuse for this level of weapon/armament being used against a crowd of protestors who pose no physical threat beyond “the fence”.
3
This investigation has awed me. I appreciate the time, effort, and resources used to deliver such fine-grained detail.
157
@S E Your are correct, good investigative reporting, not seen much, never seen on the pro Israel side of the fence, where innocents are killed by Palestinians. How about a recreation of car being blown up by a Palestinian suicide bomber? Show how the body parts of babies and old people are propelled through the air, landing in someone's latte?
13
Now, in an age where cameras are in the hands of so many, it may be possible to do a reconstruction with an accuracy not nearly as possible before. I'm afraid it can be easily said that no one's mind and heart can be at its calmest and clearest in a battle, or in an extremely inflamed standoff between, what?, organized groups of people. After a day like this, when the soldiers, the protesters, go back, go home, what is being talked about? What is being taught? What's being reinforced? Lebanon, (for a while), Ireland, apparently, simply got tired of fighting. Is that our only working way?
12
Excellent investigative reporting. Thank you to all who contributed.
104
Unfortunately, I do not see an Israeli or a jew who was interviewed for this opinion article. How can you say it is "excellent investigative reporting"?
8
Exactly. The reporters pride themselves on fairness when this article is completely one-sided.
6
@J.Sutton
Israeli Army Spokesperson is shown interviewed in the video material.
1
I accept that NYT is probably the most objective (and best) mass distributed newspaper in the United States, except and until now, where Israel is concerned. This to me is a new and refreshing breath on even-handedness. Well overdue. Thank you.
118
We will see if this effort at objectivity lasts. Until fairly recently, most mainstream U.S. media outlets (like most American politicians) were reluctant to criticize Israel and its government. One reason for this may have been pushback from reflexively pro-Israel groups and individuals in the U.S. , and the lack or weakness of corresponding constituencies sympathetic to the Palestinians. But, again, perhaps this is changing.
6
@Don Polly
Irony noted.
4
@Don Polly Thank you Don. We went to great lengths to get to the truth of what happened.
"The large number of accidental killings, and Israel’s failure to adjust the rules of engagement in response, raise the question of whether they were a bug or a feature of its policy."
Raising the question? For whom is there any doubt? Israel gladly accepts US support as a beacon of democracy in an otherwise uncivilized region, and the US gladly forgives every Israeli crime.
Yet there is no peace, and never will be until Israeli politicians--and their political supporters in the US--accept that justice is a coequal aim.
94
@Jensetta
Israel a beacon of democracy? As in South Africa was a beacon of democracy during apartheid for its white citizens in an otherwise uncivilized region? I do, however, wholeheartedly agree that there is no peace until Israel and its supporters in the US accept that justice is a coequal aim.
1
Thank you for putting forth the commitment to cover this story. While I am sure I will be criticized for this comment, I cannot help but wonder about the gender differences in life. So often, women give life and look to heal, while men rape and destroy life through battles. At least the majority of the time. Perhaps we need more female leaders, if we want peace.
46
@RP
You are correct you will be criticized for such a sexist comment, which only goes to prove you do not have to be male or female to make such remarks.
1
Thank you for this report. More importantly, thank you to the journalists who relentlessly and bravely pursue the truth. Thank you to the New York Times for supporting them and printing the truth. The report of the death of Rouzan al-Najjjar is one fine example.
55
Having read both stories the "truth" here is not complicated. The Israelis insist on occupying land that is not solely theirs. Palestinians want their land or at least access to it back. This was a war crime, pure and simple.
As to the secret Israeli "rules of engagement", they are obviously flexible enough to allow for this crime.
There will be no punishment as long as Israel is allowed to control the area with its raw military power.
Meanwhile the Trump administration continues to tout the Kushner Peace Plan which has yet to even make an appearance. Given their one-sided actions so far, I hold out little hope for this plan.
There will be no Peace without Justice in the Middle East.
148
@Brian Barrett and many of the aid organizations working in Gaza are leaving as the US cuts funds for their partnerships, increasing the dangers for the Christian and Muslim communities in Gaza and the West Bank.
2
@Brian Barrett
There will be peace in the Middle East on the day the Palestinians agree to have a state of their own along the 1967 borders and drop the right of return to land inside Israel.
Going back to your own history, are you willing to return to Mexico all the territories in southern US taken from them by force? How much right of return was given to the native American Indians after they were displaced?
13
@Brian Barrett. Israel won this land in a war, and not one of their making. It was a war of aggression against Israel. I imagine these medics in their white coats provide cover and concealment for terrorist acts. Thus the intense propagandizing of select figures. We've seen this too many times to not have some doubts about this heroic narrative.
At least the Times acknowledges that Israel is being attacked in a war, thought they are not particularly precise with that topic, which isn't surprising.
13
There is no other word to describe this young woman's death except murder. Israeli snipers are highly skilled; the man who killed her took aim and fired. The purpose was to eliminate those who were giving aid to the wounded; the fact that they were unarmed makes it even worse. This was not an act of bravery in the face of imminent death; this was an act of cowardice and vengeance. Israel has now managed to lose the support of much of the civilized world. The placing of her capitol on the border with Jordan now endangers more innocent people. Israel has now joined the Saudis in a threat against Iran. Israel has brought in violent Jews expelled from Russia to attack shepherds from the West Bank. Netanyahu should stay away from the U.S. Congress, Trump and Jared Kushner. There are millions of us who do not support them.
73
@Linda Miilu Except the "highly skilled" sniper did not hit her with his shot. It missed hitting any person and ricocheted off the ground in front of her and several others. As you said, they could probably have hit her directly if that was the intent. Not sure if it was meant as a warning or if the sniper missed an intended target, but in any case, she was not shot directly.
10
You need to read the article more carefully. The article clearly states that one shot was fired. The bullet hit the ground near the medics and fragmented. The fragments hit all three medics, killing the woman and injuring the other two. The shooter does not appear to have specifically targeted her or the other medics. If he had, one person would be dead from a bullet wound. Instead, as the article states, one person is dead and two wounded from shrapnel. You cannot aim shrapnel fragments.
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@Linda Miilu Great investigative work from NYT in an international vacuum; based on the previous aborted attempt by medics to help someone wounded due to Israeli firing on them, and then this single shot specifically aimed into an area crowded with what 6, 8 medics, what other conclusion can be made- they were targets, the shot was premeditated murder
Israeli does itself no favors following this script or others doing the same
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Thank you for this brilliant but heart rending reporting. May it bring readers to a greater understanding of the tragedy of this conflict.
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The final paragraph of this story and the illustration above it show that the bullet that killed the medic bounced off the ground a distance from her, yet still attempts to to throw doubt on “Israel’s claim” that she was not deliberately targeted. Clearly, this story had an agenda from its inception.
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@Neil Kuchinsky : As I understand it, the claim being made on the journalistic side is that, at that moment, in time, now looking back, there was not the level of activity, nor, an active protester, to justify, that particular shot, taken, at that moment. The analysis does not speak to the possibly adrenaline filled, overwhelmed, state of heart and mind, which can be pushing enormously on all participants in such an incident, sometimes, even in the face of extensive training. *I offer: Its a place you really don't want to go to, due to such volatility, and such lethality.
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@Neil Kuchinsky
I think you missed the point just as the Israel soldier missed his . He should never have been shooting in the first place. That is the point of this article. The Times is using her death to point out the absurdness of shooting in the first place.
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So that absolves the IDF from firing a lethal live round into a crowd of unarmed protesters who were not an imminent threat to soldiers a large distance away?
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Someone said that these snipers (of the “most moral army in the world”), after a day like this they go home to their parents for Shabbat and can’t sleep at night. Sadly I disagree. These boys have steak dinners, then go out drinking with buddies, then make out with their women, then sleep till Saturday afternoon, and in the evening they return to their units for some more sniping.
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@Janice
I hope so.
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One bullet hits three people, the third one fatally?
It seems like the IDF has a munitions problem, in addition to everything else. Why such a level of lethality against a ragtag bunch of protesters?
Oh well, Crispus Attucks has been there and had that done to him.
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There is a discussion in the other article on Rouzan of whether or not this killing constitutes a war crime - that there is a controversy at all is pathetic
The entire Israeli offensive against Palestinians in Gaza is a war crime - from the blockade to the murders to the lies and the cover ups.
Indeed the U.S. is complicit in this war crime.
When is the world going to speak up and punish Israel?
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I think the repeated attacks against the border fence and the Palestinians' continued launching of missiles into Israel long after Israel's withdrawal from Gaza constitutes overt aggression and belligerence, deserving of a military response. Israel is entirely within its right to defend itself against such warmongering. The Palestinians have Gaza and the West Bank, so why do they continue this violence against Israelis? Israel is a sovereign nation that has the right to defend itself from unwelcome people who seek to do it harm. If this Palestinian woman had sought peace rather than incitement and agitation, she'd most likely be alive AND a hero. Same that is not the path she chose, and now all the promise of her young life is lost. A true tragedy that keeps getting repeated needlessly by others like her. I just wish the Palestinians would choose peace rather than belligerence.
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@Mimi Why doesn't Israel have a right to defend itself, according to you? Do you think Israel initiated this or any other attack on its country? No. The Palestinians attacked as usual, and Israel defended itself, as usual.
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Maybe you’re not aware that Israel gave Gaza to the Palestinians years ago already and were eager and willing to help Gaza thrive. But ever since Gaza was given it has done nothing but attack Israel.
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This is just another of many examples of the oppressing attics used by the Israeli Goverment. Until the United States steps in to correct this injustice, as well as stops facilitating this criminal goverment, there will be no justice. Our corrupt ignorant president and the corrupt leader Netanyahu and his family need to be thrown to the wolves. But this is why there never will be peace in Israel as long as the the war machine that runs Washington continues to complicit in this fixable and overdue never ending injustice.
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There will never be peace in Israel until all of its neighbors retract their stated position of complete destruction of the last standing democracy in the region. 2 states have been offered and rejected. How about some outrage over the Egyptian blockade of Gaza?? Nah- this is the easy narrative and code for anti semitism.
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@David B
Perhaps Truman should have listened to both Arab and Jewish advice: Do not create a State of Israel in that volatile region. There were already American Jewish farmers living peacefully with their Arab neighbors. The Palestinians were not that active in Hitler's war. European Jews should have been given a large piece of land in Bavaria. That would have been justice.
Reading stories like this just breaks my heart. The oppressed have now become the oppressors. The innocent still die, only this time they speak Arabic, not Hebrew.
70 years of hatred. Will this never end?
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@Bob Burns The hatred will end when the Palestinians decide to do so. They are the problem. They refuse to even accept that Israel exists. But their problems stem from their Arab brethren, who hate them and won't lift a finger to help. Only when the rest of the Arabs tell the Palestinians the jig is up will there be a chance for peace, and Jordan will have to step up.
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Actually three days of confinement per week is not accurate The actual period is from 3:30 PM Thurs to 7:30AM Sun a period of 64 hrs. No need to exaggerate.
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This is journalism. The president and other boors who bang on about “fake news” and disparage trained journalists are clueless.
And it’s why I subscribe to the NYT. To support quality journalists who have the expertise and desire to keep asking questions and dig for answers.
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Israel’s shooting of people protesting behind a barrier are heinous and clearly war or civil crimes. They get a pass like Saudi Arabia because they are allied with the USA. As an American I am appalled by our government’s lack of action on this and the kashoggi murder. We have lost our moral compass.
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You are truly great journalists who, by honouring your brave friend, have served the public interest in such an important way. Only in Israel and in the U noted States can authorities kill in this way and escape responsibility and even scrutiny. Committed journalists stand almost alone against this cold fact.
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@Walter
Irony noted.
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I am grateful to the Times reporters for their commitment and tireless efforts to document the truth. Trump has callously cut U.S. aid to Palestinian refugees--which can only set the stage for more conflict and more senseless tragic deaths like Rouzan's and others injured that fatal day. How can the U.S. supply military weapons, aid, and legitimacy to Israel? These killings and policies harm all sides.
https://www.npr.org/2018/08/31/643812637/u-s-ends-funding-of-un-agency-that-supports-palestinian-refugees
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@Ann
To Trump, there is only one side.
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@Ann
Aid to Palestinians should come from sources other than UNRWA, which has interests which conflict with peace.
UNRWA hires teachers who praise the murder of Jews, who indoctrinate generations of Palestinian children to adopt martyrdom and internalize hate.
Throughout the world, a refugee is defined as a person who has been forced to leave their home country. The exception are Palestinian “refugees,” who UNRWA & the UN define as not only the individual who has been displaced, but all the generations that came after.
Dr. Einat Wilf, “UNRWA’s very purpose is to fuel Palestinian deep ethos of massive settlement INTO state of Israel, turning the Jews into a minority... known, wrongly, as the "Right of Return".
“UNRWA could ONLY be neutral if it no longer existed.”
UNRWA is an obstacle to peace.
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@FJM
Israel’s own policies and basic laws are the obstacle to peace and to justice.
The Palestinian right of return to the lands and homes which were stolen from them in 1948 is enshrined in UN General Assembly Resolution 194.
Israel’s “Law of Return”, which allows and encourages Jews born elsewhere and who have never previously set foot in Israel to “return” there — and yet denies the dispossessed Palestinians the right to return to their own homes — is wholly without any legal or moral basis.
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