Would an IDF soldier really do this?
Last night I went to Amnesty International for an event called Deliberate Discrimination Deliberate Deprivation: The Denial of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories chaired by Kristyan Benedict, Amnesty’s Campaign Manager.
There were five speakers who each gave a ten minute cameo talk on how Israel had stolen Palestinian land, had destroyed and stolen Palestinian water resources, had destroyed Palestinian health care, had destroyed the Palestinian education system and had destroyed Palestinian cultural and political life.
Each speaker used slides of photos (mainly old ones), statistics and maps to illustrate their points. We were told about the deaths of Palestinian children, one from an asthma attack at a checkpoint. Dr Asad Khan spoke of how Palestinians are arrested in their hospital beds and taken away by Israeli soldiers who are “accompanied by Israeli doctors”.
I took photos of many of the hundred or so slides. Some of them are below, but one photo really disturbed me.
It was taken in 2003 and shows a Palestinian boy with a Magen David cut into his forearm (see above). The caption reads:
“The soldier, checking student’s ability to bear pain, took a piece of glass and broke it and taking Qasem’s arm, cut into it a Star of David (April 30th 2003)”
After the event I wanted to discuss the provenance of this photo with Ala Abu Dheer. He shook my hand and invited me to visit Palestinian towns with him to show me how the Palestinians were living and promised to email me details of the case of the Palestinian boy.
He asked me what I would do about it and I told him I would try to get Israel to investigate. However, I said that if an Israeli had done this surely we would have seen the photo by now. I asked him what he would do about Hamas’ crimes.
Then events took a surreal turn. An Amnesty official went to get Kristyan Benedict who proceeded to tell Mr Abu Dheer that there was no point in talking to me as I was a war crimes denier. On the way out Kristyan proceeded to tell me, inter alia, that he would “smack me in my little bald head”. As you can hear he also suggested that I put it on my blog, so here it is:
Kristyan Benedict – Amnesty Campaign Manager.
I usually get on well with Kristyan, so I really don’t know what came over him. During the Q&A earlier in the evening, after I had asked a question, he told the audience that he and I go back a long way and that we usually have a man-to-man discussion after an event. I didn’t realise it would be this man-to-man though!
At least I wasn’t bitten by anyone, but these events are proving more and more intimidating to attend if you want to put Israel’s side of the equation.
Anyway, here are some of the other slides, and a photo of Cara Flowers holding up bottles of water to illustrate how little water Palestinians, allegedly, drink/use compared to Israelis. She said the ratio is four to one in favour of Israelis:
Cara Flowers holding up two bottles of water.
(Notice the calf sitting there)
(L-R) Cara Flowers, Dr Asad Khan, Dr Victoria Mason, Kristyan Benedict, Stephen Royle, Ala Abu Dheer
RichardMillett's Blog 
Those nice straight lines on skin look like a Pallywood transfer.
Can only agree with Ariadne
Broken glass is hardly a precise tool and a struggling and presumably hysterical boy (looks about 15 years old) could hardly have made the job easier. Yet the cuts are neat, straight, narrow and the whole wound fits under a band-aid. No bruising at all around the area of the cut. Didn’t the evil soldier have to hold the arm tightly to stop movement?
Don’t think CSI is required here.
http://www.thejc.com/blogpost/shame-amnesty-international-its-biased-israel-bashing-agenda
Benedict is a disgrace to Amnesty. The Middle East neetings he organises at Amnesty are unremittingly demionising of Israel. I have offered him an excellent speaker (Ruvi Ziegler) but have got nowhere.
The Amnesty Directors and members should be asking some hard questions about their “Campaigns Organiser”.
Jonathan, is it not surprising AI take this position as they support Cageprisoners, the group of mozlem non-British residents who were captured in Afghanistan and sent to Gitmo? They love a mozlem terrorist and support the likes of Moazzam Begg.
It would be great if you could send out to these idiots the truthful pictures and documents showing all the various facts, i.e. Israeli lives saved because of the wall, amount of “palestinians”whose lives are saved in Israeli hospitals, by Israeli doctors,100’s of tons of food going into Gaza daily, the %of “palestinians”living the high life of luxury, the Mercs on the streets of Gaza, the amount of “palestinians” who preffer to stay under Israeli rule. Oh and of course I forgot the basic most obvious one of 70% of “palestine” being trans jordan!!!!!! All of the above, just to mention a few!!
Two questions arise:
1) How many people attended this event? Pace Jonathan Hoffman, if the audience was only a few dozen and it wasn’t reported in the national media we shouldn’t give it the oxygen of publicity
2) Where is our hasbara? Either BICOM or the Israeli Embassy needs to refute what Amnesty lie about, point by point, and where they are correct to explain (again, and again) why the actions complained about are necessary. If they have a genuine grievance then due Israeli process needs to be reported.
Ric, about 80 in the audience plus someone filmed it so they can show it all again. There are many events like this held by Amnesty and others.
that 15 professors arrested claim?
sure.
they were all Hamas activists expelled to Lebanon, no?
wait, isn’t that Krystian bald too?
He is.
Yisrael, was that the time Israel expelled 400 Hamas and USA and Europe made her take them back?
Making USA and Europe responsible for a huge number of deaths.
And why not photograph the boy’s arm from the side where we might see what the other marks look like?
Too suspicious.
Sounds like a new blood libel just in time for Passover, just as we were running out of Christian/Moslem babies’ blood for our matzas.
Why didn’t they have a slide with the student from the College I was teaching in, who, along with 3 other soldiers trying to help a Palestinian girl enter Israel for medical treatment, was blown up during his reserves army duty and killed by same girl?
After that and other cases of kindness of Israeli soldiers that led to their murder, the newer facilities were built and so this bomber was thwarted (6 mins):
On Monday night, the documentary, Precious Lives, aired on Israel’s Channel 2 (this is a 2-minute trailer) – maybe too complex for AI? Or perhaps we aren’t monstrous enough to fit their agenda so they’ll ignore:
thanks, Leonie.
those marks on the boy’s arm look like quite a work of art, achievable only with considerable practice and if done by force needs either very expert tying down of the to be tattooed or cooperation of more than one or two others.
Therefore I consider it to be Pallywood until proven wrong.
Richard, these are the new Blood Libels! They are lies. Thank you for attending these horror shows, I would not be able to contain myself! Having met you, at an Ahava demo, I remember you have a lovely head of hair; I bet it was the useful idiot who is bald!
thanks, juniper, but i am not particularly blessed hairwise up top.
there is a German saying
no straw is growing on an intelligent head (auf einem intelligenten Kopf wächst kein Stroh)
also science has proved that baldness is owed to a well stocked reservoir of male hormons.
All these favourable spins are true of course only when the person talked about is a nice one as Richard undoubtedly is.
Thanks, Silke. I’d rather have the hair though…..
I don’t know how far advanced you are on the path – but think of Yul Brynner, he certainly didn’t suffer from a lack of attractiveness
(btw when I was still young enough that my opinion mattered I found bald men always rather attractive, none ever believed it though, they were all in favour of succouring the inferiority complex. My penchant for it is maybe because of grandfather’s having the barber in each Sunday morning to get a good shave so no struggling survivors could damage his good looks.)
Wear a kippa – problem solved (the temperature one, anyway)
It would be treated so severely by the IDF and Israeli judicial system if found to have a trace of truth in it. It is a despicable act , as Silke has said, more than likely designed by Pallywood . It is then endorsed by their collaborators, willful or gormless, to brainwash through shock – that Israelis (Jews) are like Nazis.
Israel still has Holocaust survivors with numbers tattooed on their arms. Israelis (Jews) and Nazis couldn’t be more different.
‘ The main recurrent motif in Arab cartoons concerning Israel is “the devilish Jew.” This image conveys the idea that Jews behave like Nazis, kill children and love blood. ‘ –
from : http://www.jcpa.org/JCPA/Templates/ShowPage.asp?DRIT=3&DBID=1&LNGID=1&TMID=111&FID=624&PID=0&IID=644&TTL=Major_Anti-Semitic_Motifs_in_Arab_Cartoons
B’Tselem was the source of that boy’s “testimony”. The original is not findable via Google but here are links at second and third hand:
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/anti-semitism/ot_report03.html
Source:
http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2003/27929.htm
From a hate site:
lavive said on 20/12/04 18:04
I have just read the testimony of Qassem Qayed Yusef `Awisat. He is 19. The commamnder of a checkpoint made him a tattoo with a tin of Coke. It is the star of David.
http://www.fotolog.com/anomalous/9327224
The B’Tselem page can no longer be found!
The “testimony”
[Now it’s a Coke bottle]
The commander ordered me to stand against a wall and put my hands up. He searched me meticulously. During the search he noticed a little burn mark on my right arm. My flat mate burnt me with a cigarette while we were kidding around.
The commander asked me whether it was a cigarette burn. I said it was and told him how it happened and that it wasn’t intentional. The commander said: “If your friend was kidding with you, I’ll do the same”. I asked: “How?” and he said: “You’ll see”. He ordered me to sit on the ground and put my hands behind my back. He got an empty Coca-Cola bottle, smashed it on a rock, took one of the glass shards and approached me. He ordered me to put my hands in front. He pulled them up and tried to etch on my arm with the glass shard. I pulled back my arm and asked him what he was doing. He yelled at me and kicked both my lags. I started shouting and the commander grabbed my right arm forcefully and put it on his knee. He started etching with the shard. I was shouting with pain.
At first, I didn’t know what he was doing, but as he was etching, I felt he was making the shape of a Star of David. When he was done, he showed it to me and said: “Isn’t it nicer than the burn mark your friend left on your arm with his cigarette?” I was scared, so I said it was. My hand was bleeding. Afterwards, he gave back my ID, which he confiscated while he searched me. Then, he ordered me to go back the way I came and told me never to come back to this checkpoint.
http://dc.indymedia.org/newswire/display/97692/index.php
It didn’t seem to cause the boy much pain for some reason. Wouldn’t you tend to mention the intense pain that this would cause? Brave boy, maybe. Anyway, it will all become crystal clear when Ala Abu Dheer gets in touch with me about it….
again – it is impossible to create such a perfect image without one wrong stab without cooperation – as a one on one it would have required more tying down than any ordinary surgery cot offers.
‘Wouldn’t you tend to mention the intense pain that this would cause?’
Not if you were afraid and the adrenalin was pumping, and the cut isn’t very deep.
Why do you feel it so necessary to explain away such an abuse? As abuses go, it’s quite minor compared to others. Dare I suggest it’s because of of what it SYMBOLISES to you?
On the issue of water consumption, Amnesty have been misrepresenting the matter for some time. In fact, for 2007 the per capita consumption of water was 170 cubic meters /yr for Israel and 100 for the Palestinians. The Israeli figure is falling each year because of increased efficiency whilst the Palestinian figure is rising. The Palestinians have more water than this available to them under the joint agreements with Israel, but haven’t made use of it.
Here’s a copy of the original page:
http://replay.waybackmachine.org/20050103185340/http://www.btselem.org/english/testimonies/030430_Carving_of_David_Star.asp
here somebody has done the water math pretty meticulously – Ctrl-F for Amnesty und die „Troubled Waters“ and ask Google translate for help. Amnesty is lying, at best wilfully misrepresenting …
http://germanmediawatch.posterous.com/die-agenda-der-israelkritiker-von-alex-feuerh
Have you every tried to draw a magen david? It’s very difficult to get it just right. Now try doing it with broken glass onto soft skin. Now consider how perfect that one is. If you imagine a horizontal line through the middle of it, it looks completely symmetrical. I would say that is absolutely impossible to do. Either it’s a total fake, or else someone drew the shape first and then cut it with a scalpel. It wouldn’t surprise me if it was the latter. Amnesty should hang their heads in shame – and be prosecuted for inciting racial hatred.
http://hurryupharry.org/2009/11/01/amnestys-well-of-truth-is-brackish/
Amnesty’s ‘Report’ on water was unadulterated rubbish
Pallywood in action once again
big palestinian lies nothing than palestinian lies
Note the position of the Band-Aid. The Magen David was covered by the adhesive part – not the sterile pad.
An example of Phakestinian Pallywood if ever there was!
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‘Would an IDF soldier really do this?’
He might do. There have lots of documented cases of abuse, so its perfectly possible.
But one should point out that 2003 was the height of the 2nd Intifada, and while such a abuse is inexcusable, this is conflict ongoing for 60 years or so.
please describe in detail how it was performed using the boy’s tale as facts
Break glass e.g. bottle, use to cut skin.
You’re a racist, ethnocentric twat if you think such a thing is impossible.
using the boy’s tale as facts
See above.
What’s interesting is that the photo isn’t in a clinic. It’s very obviously staged in front of a Palestinian key.
Given what was going on in 2003, this incident would have been a very minor one.
We know soldiers have abused Palestinians at check points and in custody, and continue to do so. This is isn’t news.
But apparently omitted from AI’s narrative is any notion of an ongoing conflict.
If Cara Flowers is wearing a keffiyeh, that only serves to underline that AI’s narrative is a very nationalist one.
Is that Cara Flowers wearing a keffiyeh? That’s a bit of a give away.
Converting water usage into water drinkage is misleading. Israel is a modern industrial society, of course it uses more water. Palestinian water usage is largely confined to bodily needs and agriculture.
There is another issue.
I wonder just how much WB water usage is actually measurable.
Only half WBers chose from 1967 to be connected to the Israeli water carrier. The rest rely on water carried in containers from local wells.
I am not sure this water usage can actually be measured, and I wonder if it was taken into account.
If not, the water figures are misleading. Especially since I suspect this water usage has obvious transport inefficiencies.
‘On the way out Kristyan proceeded to tell me, inter alia, that he would “smack me in my little bald head”. ‘
Very Christian of Kristyan!
Seriously, that level of aggression is rarely expressed publicly by AIers to any other ethno-national group, I suspect.
It shows how Israel is treated as a wholly unique category.
The title of this event is utterly mendacious and really quite evil. Deceit and distortion is the name of the game for AI, a rotten and morally degenerate organisation characterised by self righteousness and smug self importance, full of phoney do-gooders and compulsive ‘altruists’. Yuk! On my last visit to the WB I saw economic freedom in action with crowded shopping precincts, people enjoying their i-phones,i-pods,brand clothing, BMWs, Mercs, flashy villas and so on. I saw no action on the part of the Israelis to deny the Arabs their social and cultural rights. On the contrary, the call to prayer, for example, was blasting from something like 20 minarets in Hebron over the adjoining community of Kiryat Arba, making it virtually impossible to have a conversation. The fakestinians have everything they need and more. AI is peddling a Big Lie. The next time one of these idiots canvasses me on the street…and they are ubiquitous….I’m going to ruin his day.
Amnersty Roll of Shame:
http://www.thejc.com/blogpost/amnesty-the-scum-ngo
http://cifwatch.com/2010/11/09/censoredcensoredcensored/
Amnesty International has condemned the French government’s move to prohibit the burqa as a “violation of the freedom of expression of women”. So now they are not just antisemitic but are also supporting misogyny and the repression and control of women. These cultural relativists are beyond the pale and have turned into the enemies of the very thing they purport to defend, freedom and human dignity.
Having said that, a cousin who burns him with cigarettes is hardly unlikely as a suspect, either. Maybe the boy covered up for that. To ‘explain away’ a Jewish symbol on his arm.
““Israeli soldier used broken glass to cut Magen David into Palestinian boy’s forearm”.”
Truly amazing!
I’d like to ACTUALLY see how it was done so neatly with a piece of broken glass
Slightly off topic but here is a discussion worth watching ……if you can stomach it…..with Omar Barghouti and Sarah Schulman( a ‘queer for palestine’ activist) mainly regarding the BDS campaign and the role of the LGBT movement in supporting it. The discussion is notable for the relentless mendacity and animus towards Israel exhibited by the participants. Barghouti even suggests that Israel murdered Juliano Mer-Khamis, the founder of the palestinian children’s theatre. How low can you get? What was that? Lower?
http://www.blip.tv/file/5006601?utm_source=player_embedded
Though, like most Israelis, I spent a couple of decades in the Israeli army as a conscript and then reservist, it might surprise readers to hear that I never had a Star of David carved on me, nor do I recall doing it to either comrades in arms or Palestinian civilians. I can only put this down to the fact that at this was well before the wonderful “Inglorious Basterds” and its carving scenes, which no doubt inspired the apparent fabrication.
Like most commentators, I doubt that it was the work of IDF soldiers. While I do not doubt that there are several hooligans, sadists, etc wearing IDF attire and capable of doing such a deed or worse (statistically how could it be otherwise?), I too find this one a little hard to believe for reasons that have already been eloquently explained on this excellent blog.
Either way, it goes without saying, that it is not and has never been Israeli policy to carve Stars of David on bespectacled Arab youths – nor can I sincerely imagine that anyone is claiming otherwise.
I’m always amazed that people seem to think that their sexual orientation is of interest to the rest of us.
Why do they have to have a separate group for palastine ?
There are more than enough groups already.
Can anybody put me in touch with “The falatees for a free Ireland”
I’ve heard they exist and have been searching everywhere.
Michael Goldman, you ignorant bigot!
What a despicable way to describe our gay brothers. You are a disgrace and should be ashamed of yourself – you scum.
Love to the family and hoping to see all you over pessach!
Daniel
A prouder bigot there never was.
I am however embarassed about my atrocious spelling and terrible use of grammer which you kindly pointed out to me over the phone.
Shabat Shalom to one and all.
Gays for Palestine makes as much sense as Turkeys for Christmas. Still it is consistent. Hatred for the West unites Muslim and Left and trumps every other difference.
There is also an excellent organization called QUIT, standing for Queers Undermining Israeli Terrorism.
http://quitpalestine.org/
Doubtlessly, they first chose the word “queer” and “quit” and then had to decide how to get the other initials to fit in.
I.T. Israeli terrorism was the easy bit, but what the devil are you going to do with the letter U?
At this point thesauruses were opened and linguistic scholars consulted. Perhaps:
“Queers Unseating Israeli Terrorism” and “Queers Unbalancing Israeli Terrorism” were considered and rejected. U is not an easy letter to work with and in “Queers Undermining Israeli Terrorism” they in all probability thought they had made the best of a bad lot.
However, had this modest commentator been consulted I might have proposed “Queers Up against Israeli Terrorism” – it is not unusual to ignore the second word of a phrase and it is in my opinion far catchier.
I have sent a copy of this comment to the aforementioned organization hoping it may be of help, and shall inform our readers of any developments.
You seem a nice person and intelligent but you are mistaken. The boycotts should continue.
Dan,
Please contact your friends of the esteemed QUIT organization and relay to them my humble offering of.
“Queers for going Up the keister and against Israeli Terrorism”
I know that there are many extra words but I feel that you may be pleasantly surprised by their response.
Shavua Tov
If my memory serves me true, the Star of David was never the tattoo of choice engraved by bloodthirsty IDF soldiers on the flesh of recalcitrant Palestinian kids.
I seem to recall “All the lads bonked your sister” was quite popular as indeed was “Your mum takes it up the back door.”
Instead of expressing gratitude for the free artwork, the ungrateful ex-detainee prefers to peddle his tale of woe to esoteric human rights organizations who do not share the IDF’s penchant for involuntary body art.
The lines were straight, the triangles congruent and the scale and perspective were up to the proverbial “scratch”. Can you really ask more from a Star of David tattoo?
Am I missing something here?
thanks for this
pretty much proof to me that no right thinking person should ever take what amnesty says at face value
but there remains the possibility that they actually help political prisoners elsewhere – do these idiots ever consider the damage their reckless fabricating and lying is doing to their ability to help elsewhere?
Rather makes you wonder what they consider to be “political prisoners” – one man’s meat being another man’s poison. I always doubt the voracity of any of their reports. Knowing their bias in this field making it mre than likely that they suffer impaired judgement elsewhere too.
Like the al Dura boy there is no blood either on the arm or on the plaster. The fact that there is still a plaster in situ would indicate a recent laceration. Strange that there is not only no blood, but no inflammation around the “wound”. Could it be a transfer for Pallywood Productions ? Or has this boy also suffered such fright, like the al Dura boy ostensibly did, that his blood froze?
Amnesty: they’ve never seen an antisemitic fabrication they didn’t like.
Relevant to this thread from Elder of Ziyyon
<b<Terrorist fan Vittorio was in bed with Amnesty. Literally.
Thanks for this, David.