IDF accused of using boy bomber for propaganda purposes

[tinnypriv]

IDF accused of using boy bomber for propaganda purposes
Relatives of youngster charge army deliberately misrepresented boy's age

Ma'ariv, 25 March 2004


How old is Husam Abdo Balal, the Palestinian boy captured yesterday (Wednesday) at the Hawara checkpoint wearing an explosive belt? According to information provided by security authorities, Husam is 14. However, his identity card indicates that he has already celebrated his 16th birthday.

Husam's parents have been wondering about the erroneous reports on their son's age, and today the IDF has confirmed that the boy is older than previously claimed. "The IDF and the Israeli propaganda machine are attempting to make headlines by deliberately reporting that he is younger than he is", said Husam's relatives today.

Husam's mother, Tamim, was relating the chain of events today: "The journalists who arrived at the house assumed that Husam is 14.5, as the IDF claimed. Nobody bothered to ask how old he is. Later, those same journalists began calling again to ask about his age, after contradictory reports surfaced".

Palestinian sources told Maariv Online today that "Israel always knew how to exploit those types of situations in order to improve its standing in the eyes of international public opinion (My note: "be seen as enlightened" - Heb), by describing the Palestinians as murderers (My note: also "scum" - Heb) sending their kids to blow up left and right".

A senior IDF official issued the following response: "The report of the child's age was based on the child's testimony. He claimed all along that he was 14, an assertion we were not able to verify since he did not possess any identification papers". The official added the further investigation revealed that the boy was in fact 16.

Note: Additional reporting by Uri Glickman.

http://www.maarivintl.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=article&articleID=5239
http://www.maariv.co.il/channels/1/ART/676/887.html (Hebrew)

---

Comment: Second link includes a picture of the identity card: date of birth: 5 Dec 1987.

[monobrau]

1. Splitting hairs, aren't we?

Still looks like a boy who doesn't have a clue of what he was willing to throw away. The PLO wanted him to throw away his life for them, and the IDF will use him for propaganda now. No good guys in this story, I'm afraid.

[Jim Sagle]

2. The IDF refrained from killing him. They're the good guys.

[tinnypriv]

4. Me?

I didn't write this. It's the top story on Ma'ariv's website. :hi:

As for "doesn't have a clue of what he was willing to throw away", I've stated elsewhere that some reports say that perhaps he did. Maybe he did, maybe he didn't, but I suggest you review the evidence for yourself.

That may be a fruitless exercise if you're going to state (sans evidence) that the PLO wants public relations disasters and suicide bombings (they want neither, though they don't do much to stop the latter, and screw up the first because they're idiots).

As for "no good guys" in the story, I think the IDF soldiers at the machsom did a good job, and should be praised. That's just my opinion.

[monobrau]

5. Not you :)

That was directed at the writer of the article.
My point is that he is a boy regardless of his specific age, and I can't believe he has the maturity or intellectual capacity to grasp the consquences of his actions.

[Muddleoftheroad]

7. Strapping on a bomb

I think most kids far under this teen's age know what it means to strap a bomb to themselves.

I would have to be convinced that this kid needs to be virtually hospitalized because he can barely feed himself to believe he didn't know what he was doing.

[Name removed]

10. Deleted message

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[tinnypriv]

11. That isn't how the checkpoints work

The local soldiers have quite a high degree of autonomy.

Can direct you to some Israeli sources on that if you like.

[Feanorcurufinwe]

12. If ordered to shoot the child, do you think they would have disobeyed?

[Muddleoftheroad]

13. What child?

Reports now claim this bomber was 16. That is not exactly the age of a child (age of consent in most U.S. states for instance).

[Feanorcurufinwe]

14. Why ask such a transparently dishonest question? You know who.

:wtf:

I'll rephrase for you: If ordered to shoot the 14 or 16 year old boy, would they have disobeyed?

[Muddleoftheroad]

15. If your life and the lives of others were threatened by a mad bomber

Would you ask to see his driver's license first?

Or would do your job and protect the lives of innocents from the would-be mass murderer?

[Feanorcurufinwe]

17. Isn't ist something how you are unwilling to face it?

What I find ironic is that I agree with you, but you seem unwilling to confront the fact that the emotional arguments you raise don't contradict the emotional argument I raised.

[Muddleoftheroad]

19. What emotional argument that you raised?

[Feanorcurufinwe]

21. That's exactly my point - you either can't even see it

or you are pretending you can't see it for rhetorical purposes. There is no way for me to tell which.

[Muddleoftheroad]

24. If it is such a clear point you should have no problem restating it

[Feanorcurufinwe]

27. You can officially have the last word.

You can respond to the post with anything you want, no matter how nonsensical, and I promise not to respond.

[Muddleoftheroad]

28. Thanks for the response I expected.

[tinnypriv]

16. Perhaps

I see no way of knowing one way or the other.

Maybe they'd read the booklets the Gush sends out. Or maybe they're sympathetic to the refusers. Or maybe they like maiming children (like some IDF soldiers). Who knows.

I fail to see the relevancy of the question.

[Feanorcurufinwe]

18. Thank you for a reasonable answer

and I appluad those in the IDF who are beginning to consult their consciences when deciding whether to follow their orders. And I hope that is a trend that takes hold on both sides.

Relevancy... I think you are right, that I probably shouldn't have poured rhetorical gasoline on the fire. Mea culpa.

[Muddleoftheroad]

6. No good guys?

One group got a teenager to put on a bomb to kill as many civilians as possible. The other group stopped him and didn't even shoot him in the process.

If you see those two as the same then you need your damn eyes checked.

[Feanorcurufinwe]

8. The whole thing was a phony setup

Palestinian leaders have accused Israel of fabricating a story about a 14-year-old Palestinian boy who planned to blow himself up.

<snip>

In an interview with Aljazeera.net, Shahin accused Israel of seeking to justify slaughtering Palestinian children by spreading the false impression that they are used as human bombers. "Their (Israel’s) goal is to besmirch Palestinian childhood so that when they slaughter the children, the world won’t feel sorry for them," he said. Arab Knesset member Muhammad Baraka has also voiced "serious doubts" about the veracity of the Israeli narrative. "I have very serious doubts about the whole story. I can't give the Israeli army the benefit of the doubt."

<snip>

According to human rights groups operating in the occupied territories, the Israeli army has killed hundreds of Palestinian children since the outbreak of the Palestinian Intifada more than three and a half years ago. According to a spokeswoman for the East Jerusalem-based Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring Group (HRMG), the Israeli army and paramilitary Jewish settlers have killed 263 Palestinian children from age 0-14 and 236 minors from the age of 15-18 during the ongoing Intifada. The total number of Palestinians killed by Israel since the outbreak of the Intifada is estimated at 2670.

The figures for the injured and maimed are believed to be in the thousands. The number of Israelis killed by Palestinians during the same period is around 838, including soldiers, settlers and civilians.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/8C7BCBC3-CA2C-4F33-B27D-80AF0AF830E2.htm

[Muddleoftheroad]

9. Yeah, Israel doesn't find enough suicide bombers

It needs to make them up now?

LOL, that's rich.

[tallyho]

20. The whole thing was a phony setup?????????????

aljazeera? What a joke. I hope you are not buying into their lies and hatered of Jews.

[Feanorcurufinwe]

22. If the Palestinians say it, and it's published by al-jazeera, it's a lie?

OK.

[Muddleoftheroad]

25. Al Jazeera could publish something I wrote

and I would be forced to doubt my own words.

They have modeled their credibility on Bushco.

[Feanorcurufinwe]

26. Gee, that's a logical viewpoint.

:crazy:

[Muddleoftheroad]

29. Al Jazeera exemplifies everything wrong with Arab media

It is biased and unprofessional and serves as a mouthpiece for terror.

But other than that...

[Feanorcurufinwe]

30. So it's not Al-Jazeera in particular that is biased and unprofessional

and serves as a mouthpiece for terror, but all Arab media in general?

And the determining factor is that the media is 'Arab'?


What is it about that viewpoint that distinguishes it from bald-faced racism?

[Muddleoftheroad]

31. Reading

Al Jazeera exemplifies everything that is WRONG in Arab media. That does not mean that everything in Arab media is wrong.

Much of Arab media is state controlled and those who control it are the very same autocratic scumbags who would rather blame everything on Israel than lift a finger to help things for their own people.

[tinnypriv]

3. Of course

If the boy claimed he was 14, that still makes the IDF liars, since they said he was 12 yesterday (as did Ma'ariv Online, which corrected the age, to their credit).

Also, an interesting side-note: a center-right Israeli newspaper considers this story newsworthy enough to take the time to get the facts straight (unlike US reporters and US "pro-Israel" commentators), and it also presents Palestinian and Israeli points of view side by side (nothing new, I should stress).

Some lessons there for commentators in this forum I think.

[newyorican]

23. At the rate of growth Palestinian boys have...

Israel is doomed demographically. From 12 years to 16 years old in about 48 hours? I wonder how old he will be tomorrow?

[GabysPoppy]

32. Or how old the next child will be

The person or persons that strapped this boy up with the bomb cannot be called human under any definition.

Why is that not your concern?

[Name removed]

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