The 12 year old Palestinian child shot dead on the West Bank

[maudelovesharold]

OMG. Have just seen the BBC report of this killing, including the site of the shooting, demonstrating how far away this kid playing with a firework was from the highly fortified tower the Israeli sniper shot him from. I’m starting to think we’re dealing with a bunch of fucking psychopaths, in the IDF and the Israeli Government. They’re serial killers, the lot of them. Bollocks to their “he was a 12 year old terrorist”. He was an innocent child, playing.

Uk is a multicultural country. Spain is a multicultural country (im Spanish living in the uk). In both you can find loads of racism and in many scenarios it’s young people

Well of course you can, but what you cannot do is assume that any and every soldier is acting from racism when they're involved in an incident with a civilian.

Let's talk about leadership and policy and even bigger issues like how to settle the Israeli/Palestinian land disputes.

@FoodObsessedToo

*Absolutely not. I've seen a still from the video and he is clearly holding up one of the roman candle type fireworks.

If a sniper can see where a child's heart is through a scope they can see damn well enough that he's just holding a firework.*

According to the BBC, they knew it was fireworks.

According to video of the incident, before even the firework could go off Rami was hit by a bullet fired by a border police officer positioned some distance away. In a statement, the police said a single shot was fired at a suspect who had "endangered the forces while firing aerial fireworks in their direction".

The IDF have an issue with their organisational culture. Unfortunately it is a culture which seems to be endorsed by extreme right wing Israeli politicians.

It is not a stretch to say they have an organisational culture in which racism and the dehumanisation of Palestinian civilians is a feature.

The main victims of this culture are Palestinian civilians, and while I wouldn’t want to demonise any individual based on them belonging to a group, my main sympathies at this moment in time are with the people of Gaza, with people like this 12 year old boy and his family and friends.

I think that there will be a time when sympathies can be extended to those within the IDF who did not consciously intend to cause such harm, which is not the same as excusing their behaviour.

You see I might also be willing to give the benefit of the doubt
If this was an isolated incident, it's not.
If the IDF came out and apologised to the family and offered their condolences, they didn't. Instead they have refused to release the body and criticised family for having too many mourners at their home.
If the IDF questioned and investigated the actions by the soldier, they haven't he's been applauded.
If the IDF called for a full investigation into the incident and agreed to co-operate with that and honour any recommendations made, they won't
If the IDF offered assurances to all parents of children that they won't kill any more children lessons will be learnt, they won't and it will happen again.

Let's talk about leadership and policy and even bigger issues like
All of the above demonstrate the leadership we are dealing with the clear lack of any policy on how to safeguard and protect children.
The US senate majority leader Chuck Schumer has called Netanyahu an obstacle to peace and for elections to be held in Israel so they are also pretty fed up with their leadership
how to settle the Israeli/Palestinian land disputes.
Stopping the illegal settlements would be a start and leaving the people of the west bank to go about their lives without soldiers shooting them.

I was being sarcastic