Editorial Note: The following news reports are summaries from original sources. They may also include corrections of Arabic names and political terminology. Comments are in parentheses. Share the link of this article with your facebook friends

 

An Israeli War Crime Caught on Video:

A Palestinian Killed, then Dragged, Repeatedly, Lifted Up in the Air, and Dropped Down in the Mud

February 26, 2020 

Editor's Note:

While brutal force has been used to create Zionist Israel and sustain it thus far, Zionist claims to Palestine are false. Actually, from the five thousand years of known written history, there has been a continuous Palestinian-Canaanite presence in the Holy Land. Despite the Zionist false claims, the ancient Israelites ruled part of the land for only 85 years (during the reign of David, Solomon, and Solomon's son).

 After that, the Egyptians conquered Palestine-Canaan in 925 BC, followed by Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, and Romans, before the Arab Muslim rule, starting from 636 AD.

By the Time Jesus started his mission, the three population groups of Canaanites, Palestinians, and Israelites were melted together in religion and language. Most of them became Christians when Constantine converted in 313 AD. Then, most of them became Muslims in the 7th and 8th centuries AD.

So, Palestinian Muslims, Christians, and Jews are the ones who have the right to claim descent from ancient Israelites, Palestinians, and Canaanites, not Zionists from other continents.

The following news stories are just examples of the Israeli occupation government violations of Palestinian human rights, on daily basis.

More detailed news stories can be found at the following sources:

http://english.wafa.ps/, https://english.palinfo.com/, https://imemc.org/, https://paltoday.ps/ar/

 

Palestinian fighter, Mohammad Ali Hasan an-Naem, who was killed and his body desecrated inside Gaza border by Israeli occupation soldiers, on Feb 23, 2020	An Israeli military bulldozer desecrating the body of the Palestinian fighter, Mohammad Ali Hasan an-Naem, after killing him inside Gaza border by Israeli occupation soldiers, on Feb 23, 2020

An Israeli military bulldozer desecrating the body of a Palestinian man, Mohammad Ali Hasan Al-Naem, after Israeli occupation soldiers had killed him from across the border, though he was inside Gaza Strip, east of Abasan, on February 23, 2020.

Here's the video address: 

https://twitter.com/i/status/1231572462665699328

 

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Adalah to Israeli Military: This is a War Crime; Open an Immediate Criminal Investigation

February 24, 2020 8:10 PM IMEMC & Agencies

Adalah –

The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel sent an urgent letter, Sunday, 23 February 2020, to Israeli Chief Military Advocate General, Sharon Afek, demanding he immediately open a criminal investigation into the incident that occurred Sunday morning near Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip in which an Israeli military armored bulldozer was filmed dragging a human body along the ground and repeatedly lifting it up in the air and dropping it down in the mud.

In the letter, Adalah Attorney, Sawsan Zaher detailed a series of international laws – including the Rome Statute, the UN Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment, and the Hague Regulations – which classify the Israeli military actions depicted in the video as war crimes and blatant violations of international criminal law, and international human rights and humanitarian law.

The Israeli Supreme Court has likewise recognized in past rulings that harm to the dignity of the deceased is a violation of Israel’s Basic Law: Human Dignity and Liberty.

Adalah demands the Israeli military immediately open a criminal investigation into the war crime perpetrated by the Israeli military in the southern Gaza Strip.

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Updated 2: “Israeli Soldiers Kill One Palestinian, Injure Four, In Southern Gaza”

February 23, 2020 12:24 PM IMEMC News

Update: The Al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad, has reported that the slain Palestinian was one of its members.

The Brigades stated that the Palestinian has been identified as Mohammad Ali Hasan an-Na’em, 27, from Khan Younis.

The slain Palestinian was unarmed and wasn’t even in military attire when the soldiers attacked him, along with many residents,  with their bulldozer, and live rounds.

Updated From Feb 23, 2020, at 10:58:

Israeli soldiers shot and killed, on Sunday morning, a young Palestinian man, and injured four, on Palestinian lands, in Khan Younis, in the southern part of the Gaza Strip.

An Israeli armored bulldozer was filmed repeatedly crushing the body of the slain Palestinian with its blade, then grabbing the corpse with the blade and swinging the body back and forth in the air.

The Israeli army claimed that its soldiers observed two Palestinians approaching the perimeter fence, before placing an explosive device.

It alleged that the soldiers then rushed to the scene and fired live ammunition at the two Palestinians, causing the explosive device to explode (they never reached the border fence).

Israeli officials frequently make outrageous claims about Palestinians they kill, which are often proven later to be false.

Media sources in Gaza said several Palestinians tried to reach the two Palestinians to provide them with the needed medical care and move them to a hospital, but a military bulldozer sped towards them and drove over the corpse of the slain Palestinian, before scooping it using the bulldozer’s plow.

The second Palestinian was injured with a live round in his leg and was rushed to a hospital in Khan Younis after the Palestinians managed to evacuate him before the soldiers could reach him.

The Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza has reported that two other Palestinians were shot and injured by Israeli army fire while attempting to help evacuate the wounded.

Israeli sources initially quoted the army claiming its soldiers killed two Palestinians in the incident.

Despite the military claims, a video from the scene shows the corpse of the young man on Palestinian land in an area quite a distance away from the fence.

The bulldozer was speeding towards the Palestinians to prevent them from retrieving the corpse of the slain young man.

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Israel’s desecration of Palestinian corpse in Gaza war crime: Rights group

Press TV, Tuesday, 25 February 2020

Human rights activists have expressed outrage after a video widely shared on social media showed an Israeli military bulldozer dragging the body of a Palestinian man killed by the regime’s forces in Gaza, calling the action a “war crime” and a blatant violation of international criminal law.

“This is a war crime,” tweeted the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel known as Adalah.

On Sunday, Israeli troops killed 27-year-old Mohammed Ali al-Naim, a member of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement, east of Khan Yunis, for allegedly trying to plant “an explosive device” near the fence separating Gaza from the Israeli-occupied territories.

The video went viral on social media over the weekend showing what appeared to be the lifeless body of the resistance fighter dangling from an Israeli military bulldozer as it removed the corpse. Two other men were wounded while trying to retrieve Mohammed’s body.

Adalah, which is dedicated to Palestinian legal rights in the occupied territories, further demanded in a letter that Israeli military immediately launch an investigation into the incident.

“In the letter, Adalah attorney Sawsan Zaher detailed a series of international laws—including the Rome Statute, the UN Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment, and the Hague Regulations—which classify the Israeli military actions depicted in the video as war crimes and blatant violations of international criminal law, and international human rights, and humanitarian law,” the NGO said in a statement. 

The images of Mohammed’s lifeless body being carried away by the bulldozer have caused widespread outrage among Palestinians.

His family has demanded the body’s swift return for burial.

Islamic Jihad later fired a barrage of rockets into Israel in retaliation for the Israeli move. The Gaza-based movement said in a statement the video showed a “brutal crime.”

A spokesman for the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas told Al Jazeera that the incident was reflective of Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories and its treatment of Palestinian people.

“There are hundreds of similar crimes that haven’t been documented by the camera. Israeli occupation continues its crime without any legal or ethical deterrence,” said Hazem Qassem.

In a statement reported by the Middle East Eye, Hamas spokesperson Fawzi Barhoum said Mohammed was unarmed.

“Desecrating the dead body of a young unarmed man on the borders of the Gaza Strip in front of the cameras of the whole world is a heinous crime that adds to the occupation’s list of crimes against our Palestinian people,” said Barhoum.

Mohammed’s mother, Mirvat, 56 said, “Isn’t it horrendous enough that they killed my young man? What they did is a great crime against humanity.”

“All I want is for them to bring my son back ... It’s my right to see him for the last time and bid farewell to him and bury him near me to be able to visit him,” she said.

Some journalists and politicians denounced the Israeli military's conduct on Twitter Sunday:

Aida Touma-Sliman, a member of Joint List in Israel’s parliament (Knesset), said the Israelis “steal a body, abuse it with a bulldozer, and still argue that the army is the most moral in the world.”

She said “hording bodies to bargain with is Israel’s declared policy” since Naftali Bennett took office as Israel’s minister for military affairs last year, describing him as “the minister of death and brutality.”

Another Joint List lawmaker, Ofer Cassif, said, “Abducting a body is the nauseating, blood-thirsty act of vampirism. Here is what [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu has to offer: Siege, killing, and abducting bodies. We need to put an end to their celebration of death.”

https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/02/25/619472/www.presstv.ir

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'This Is a War Crime': Video of IDF Bulldozer Dragging Body of Palestinian Man in Gaza Sparks Outrage

Human rights advocates are demanding that the Israeli military immediately open a criminal investigation into the incident.

by Jessica Corbett, staff writer

Monday, February 24, 2020 by Common Dreams

Human rights advocates expressed outrage and called for a criminal investigation after video footage of an Israeli military bulldozer dragging the body of a Palestinian man shot dead by Israeli soccupation forces in the occupied Gaza Strip circulated widely across social media over the weekend.

"This is a war crime," tweeted the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, a nonprofit group known as Adalah, in response to the Shehab news agency video. The group demanded in a letter (pdf) Sunday that Israeli Chief Military Advocate General Sharon Afek immediately launch an investigation into the incident, which took place near the separation fence east of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip.

"In the letter, Adalah attorney Sawsan Zaher detailed a series of international laws—including the Rome Statute, the U.N. Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment, and the Hague Regulations—which classify the Israeli military actions depicted in the video as war crimes and blatant violations of international criminal law, and international human rights, and humanitarian law," the group said in a statement.

The Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), the second-largest militant group in Gaza after Hamas, said the 27-year-old dead man was a member of the organization named Mohammed Ali al-Naim, Al Jazeera reported. Two other men were wounded while trying to retrieve his body and later treated at the European Hospital in Khan Younis, said Gaza health ministry spokesperson Ashraf al-Qedra.

According to Al Jazeera:

The PIJ said in a statement the video showed a "brutal crime."

A spokesman for Hamas, the group which governs Gaza, told Al Jazeera that the incident was reflective of Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territories and its treatment of Palestinian people.

"There are hundreds of similar crimes that haven't been documented by the camera. Israeli occupation continues its crime without any legal or ethical deterrence," Hazem Qassem told Al Jazeera.

In a statement reported by the Middle East Eye, Hamas spokesperson Fawzi Barhoum said al-Naim was unarmed.

"Desecrating the dead body of a young unarmed man on the borders of the Gaza Strip in front of the cameras of the whole world is a heinous crime that adds to the occupation's list of crimes against our Palestinian people," said Barhoum.

The Israel Occupation Forces (IOF) addressed the incident in a pair of tweets Sunday, saying that Israeli troops saw two "terrorists" attempting to plant "an explosive device next to the security fence." The military added: "Our soldiers opened fire at the terrorists. A hit was identified."

Some journalists and politicians denounced the IDF's conduct on Twitter Sunday:

Agence France-Presse noted that "the Israeli defense minister, Naftali Bennett, has pursued a policy of retaining the bodies of militants from Gaza as bargaining chips to pressurize Hamas, the Islamist group that controls the Palestinian enclave, which has been holding the bodies of two Israeli soldiers since 2014."

Bennett defended the military's handling of the incident, tweeting in Hebrew that "I back the IDF that killed the terrorist and collected the body." He added that "this is how it should be done, and this is how it will be done." 

Haartez reported on responses from some members of the Joint List, an alliance of Arab-majority political parties in Israel:

Joint List Knesset member Aida Touma-Sliman described the Israeli army's operation as follows: "They steal a body, abuse it with a bulldozer, and still argue that the army is the most moral in the world. Since Bennett took office as defense minister, hording bodies to bargain with is Israel's declared policy." She described Bennett as "the minister of death and brutality."

Another Joint List lawmaker, Ofer Cassif, said: "Abducting a body is the nauseating, blood-thirsty act of vampirism. Here is what [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu has to offer: Siege, killing, and abducting bodies. We need to put an end to their celebration of death."

Since the video began circulating on Twitter, Palestinian groups in Gaza fired more than 20 rockets into Israel—many of which were intercepted by Israel's Iron Dome missile defense system. Following that, according to the Washington Post, "Israeli military jets targeted sites in Gaza and Syria linked to Palestinian Islamic Jihad on Sunday night."

On Monday, Palestinian groups fired at least 14 more rockets into Israel and the IDF struck targets in Gaza.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/02/24/war-crime-video-idf-bulldozer-dragging-body-palestinian-man-gaza-sparks-outrage#

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