Israeli Defence Force murders Palestinian children

Market day in Jenin, women and children packed into the marketplace this Friday, day of prayer. Suddenly, the good-natured atmosphere was shattered, the lively banter gave way to hysterical screams – mainly of women and children – the Israeli Defence Force had fired a tank shell into the crowded marketplace. Pravda.Ru contacts tell the story of what really happened.

The Israeli authorities claim that three people died in this massacre, two of whom were children, while Palestinian and independent sources put the death toll at four, for now, and many injuries.

What made a tank crew fire a shell into a crowded marketplace is a question which will be investigated by the Israeli authorities.

These authorities until now have not issued an apology, have not issued an expression of regret, have not issued a statement of condemnation for this act of terrorism, but instead, have stated that the tank crew appeared to have made “a mistake”.

Pravda.Ru contacts in Jenin were present at this massacre. They stated that three bursts of heavy machine-gun fire could be heard before the tank fired its shell into the marketplace, without any apparent reason. Women and children ran screaming from the market, convinced that a curfew was not yet in force.

According to Pravda.Ru sources, this was a revenge attack by rogue elements of the IDF for the recent Hamas suicide bombings in Israel and the colonies. It was not an accident.

The Israeli Defence Force is not known for its sense of tact or appeasement, instead it uses a sledgehammer to crack a peanut. Overkill is the word of the day. In a climate of terrorism, when Hamas suicide bombers are starting to wreak havoc inside Israel, the nerves evidently come to the fore. However, a modernised, developed country which claims to be a state of law and to be minimally civilised, does not launch tank shells into crowded marketplaces. To state that the holocaust has been criticised by Israelis would be the understatement of the year. To state that the Israelis are beginning to be seen as the perpetrators of genocide by many people around the world, would also not be an exaggeration.

How the state of Israel expects to gain international sympathy for its cause when it continues to occupy lands which does not belong to it, builds colonies on them and refuses to abide by UN resolutions telling Israel to halt the policy, defies logic.

Previously, the general consensus of opinion around the world was admiration at the intelligence of this people, who made a Paradise out of the desert. Now, with heinous acts of terrorism such as this, and so many others perpetrated recently during the incursion into the West Bank, more and more press sources are expressing horror at the ever-increasing acts of criminality and violation of human rights which the IDF so systematically commits.

Tomorrow, as usual, there will be an outcry against this article, accusing Pravda.Ru of being anti-Semitic. Every time the IDF commits an atrocity and the international press reports it, there is a hail of criticism and letters to the editor, claiming that the press only defends the Palestinian cause.

This is a great travesty of justice. It is understandable that the Israeli people do not like to read articles which criticise their state but the intelligent readership of this noble country will understand that newspapers exist to provide news and today, the IDF presented Israel’s opponents with a golden opportunity to launch a campaign of indignation and criticism against it. The IDF also provided the newspapers with a golden opportunity to make copy.

Our advice is...don’t do it again.

Timothy BANCROFT-HINCHEY PRAVDA.Ru