Razan al-Najjar (1996-2018), an unarmed Palestinian nurse from Gaza, was shot dead by the Israeli army on June 1st 2018. A picture taken just moments before show her with her hands in the air and wearing a white lab coat clearly marking her as a medical worker:
She was just 21.
She was shot while approaching the border fence between Israel and Gaza to help someone wounded by the army. A sniper shot her right through the chest from over 100 metres away.
Great March of Return: The fence has been the scene of largely non-violent protests by thousands of Gazans every week since March 30th. They demand that they be allowed to return to Israel where their families were pushed out 70 years ago. Some still have the keys to their old houses. Israel has made Gaza into an open-air prison for the past 11 years.
By the numbers: Since March 30th:
- 0 Israelis killed
- 4 Israelis wounded
compare that to:
- 118 Gazans killed:
- 3,895 Gazans wounded by live ammunition (40 of which lost a limb)
Of the dead, 14 are children, 2 are journalists and 2 are medical workers.
How far gone do you have to be to shoot at children, much less medical workers?
Al-Najjar, a nurse, had been at the protests since the beginning and said she would be there till the end. She worked some 13 hourse a day, providing first aid so that the wounded could live long enough to reach a hospital.
Al-Najjar:
“people ask my dad what I’m doing here without getting a salary. He tells them, ‘I’m proud of my daughter. She provides care to the children of our country.'”
The Israeli army, just like the police in the US:
- Says it was following proper procedures.
- Promises to do a thorough investigation.
- Is unaccountable: the United Nations’ attempt to condemn the violence and protect Palestinians was blocked by the US. The US gives more military aid to Israel than to any other country.
- Smeared the character of its victim. They put out a video edited to make it seem like al-Najjar was acting as a human shield.
meanwhile the press:
- Repeats the army’s lies without fact-checking them: the video that was taken out of context was right there on YouTube.
- Leaves the army out of the headlines: “A Woman Dedicated to Saving Lives Loses Hers in Gaza Violence.”
And when I say “the press” I mean not the Israeli press but the New York Times!
The policy to use live ammunition on protesters goes straight to
the top:
- Lt. Gen. Gadi Eizenkot,
- Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman, and
- Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
International law: UN Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials applies here. Live ammunition is only to be used as a last resort to prevent “the imminent threat of death or serious injury” or “the perpetration of a particularly serious crime involving grave threat to life.”
Most of the world is repelled by Israel’s behaviour, but not the US, which aids and abets it.
– Abagond, 2018.
Source: mainly Google Images; Human Rights Watch; Heavy.
See also:
541
This doesn’t make any kind of sense. Why must there be so much death and hatred in this world. People are always trying to remove others from land where they have been for 100s of years. And some don’t see anything wrong with this!? Let us always just pray for peace.
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I haven’t seen any media coverage of this in the US. Maybe I missed it.
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Also haven’t seen any coverage about Yemen.
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That’s the part I hate most about war and guns. We spend a lifetime nurturing, shaping, teaching, encouraging, loving our children and the arrogance of someone else’s agenda or delusions of nation building or racism or just plain deciding someone else is in their way makes that life suddenly cheap and expendable.
How they expect others to not want and take revenge is beyond me.
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This is sad. Seems they kill the good to keep the masses sheep.
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@ Mitch
Yes, things are really dire in Yemen.
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She was a beautiful young woman outside and inside. Her humanitarian efforts to offer medical attention in a dangerous space speaks volumes of her courage. May she Rest In Peace.
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This tragedy mirrors the police killings in America.
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