Video shows unprovoked, cold-blooded killing of Palestinian boys by Israeli forces

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Written by Ali Abunima Ali Abunima
Published: 20 May 2014 20 May 2014
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Unlawful killing of two Palestinian teens outside Ofer

This shocking video shows the unprovoked, cold-blooded killings of two Palestinian teenagers, 17-year-old Nadim Siam Nuwara, and 16-year-old Muhammad Mahmoud Odeh Abu al-Thahir on 15 May near Ofer military prison in the occupied West Bank city of Beitunia.

Both boys were fatally shot with live ammunition. The video was obtained by Defence for Children International - Palestine Section (DCI-Palestine) which sent the following description to The Electronic Intifada:

The CCTV footage was captured by cameras mounted on the building where the incident took place, which is owned by Fakher Zayed.

“The images captured on video show unlawful killings where neither child presented a direct and immediate threat to life at the time of their shooting,” said Rifat Kassis, executive director of DCI-Palestine. “These acts by Israeli soldiers may amount to war crimes, and the Israeli authorities must conduct serious, impartial, and thorough investigations to hold the perpetrators accountable for their crimes.”

Nadim Siam Nuwara, 17, sustained a fatal gunshot wound to the chest. Muhammad Mahmoud Odeh Abu al-Thahir, 16, sustained a fatal gunshot wound to the back.

The boys were participating in a demonstration near Ofer military prison to mark Nakba Day and express solidarity with hunger striking prisoners currently held in administrative detention by Israel. The demonstration reportedly began peacefully and then turned violent when Israeli forces clashed with Palestinian youth.

The deaths on Thursday raise the number of Palestinian children killed by Israeli forces in 2014 to four, according to data collected by DCI-Palestine. Over 1,400 Palestinian children have been killed as a result of Israeli military and settler presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory since 2000.

The Israeli military’s own regulations dictate that live ammunition must be used “only under circumstances of real mortal danger,” but the regulations are not enforced and frequently ignored by Israeli soldiers, according to research by DCI-Palestine.

Read more on the killings on DCI-Palestine’s website.

Update, 20 May: New videos of shootings published

Additional video of the shootings from a second camera published today by B’Tselem provide additional clear evidence that Nadim and Muhammad were shot down without provocation and in cold blood.

Each video shows both camera angles but the videos have been set to start playing at the moment where the new footage from the second camera begins. Scroll back to the beginning of each clip to see all the footage.

Israeli forces destroy 1,500 fruit trees at Tent of Nations family farm near Bethlehem

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Written by Ben White Ben White
Published: 20 May 2014 20 May 2014
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Israeli forces destroyed an estimated 1,500 fruit trees belonging to the Tent of Nations farm outside Nahalin village, in the Bethlehem region of the occupied West Bank yesterday morning.

Owned by the Nassar family, the farm lies just below Neve Daniel, an Israeli settlement, located in the Gush Etzion bloc. The property has long been targeted by Israeli occupation authorities seeking to confiscate the land and remove an obstacle to settlement expansion.

According to the family, soldiers arrived at their land early in the morning, and in a couple of hours uprooted some 1,500 apricot and apple trees, burying them under piles of soil. “This is going to make it very difficult for us to recover and rehabilitate the land,” Daoud Nassar, a member of the family, told me. Photographs are available on the project’s Facebook page.

Read more: Israeli forces destroy 1,500 fruit trees at Tent of Nations family farm near Bethlehem

Israeli forces display recklessness in killing of two protesters in West Bank

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Written by AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
Published: 15 May 2014 15 May 2014
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AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
NEWS FLASH

15 May 2014

Israeli forces display recklessness in killing of two protesters in West Bank

Israeli forces have displayed continuing recklessness in their use of force against Palestinian protesters when they killed a young man and a teenager, and injured others, during a crackdown on demonstrations to commemorate the Nakba in the occupied West Bank today, said Amnesty International.

The killings occurred in a demonstration outside Ofer military camp. As well as commemorating the Nakba (the dispossession of Palestinians in 1948), the demonstrators were expressing solidarity with around 125 Palestinian detainees who are being held by Israel without charge and have been on hunger strike for 22 days to protest their detention conditions.

Read more: Israeli forces display recklessness in killing of two protesters in West Bank

Can you hear us now? Audio Analysis of voter fraud at the Democratic National Convention.

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Written by Peter Miller Peter Miller
Published: 15 May 2014 15 May 2014
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September 13, 2012
Peter Miller
With technical assistance by Steven Miller

On the second day of the 2012 Democratic National Convention, the world was treated to a spectacle of voter fraud on national TV.  The Democratic leadership, apparently at the behest of President Obama, brought forth last minute changes to the language of the Democratic platform that required a 2/3rd vote of the convention delegates.  There were two changes, quickly shown and obviously intended to be pushed through: introducing the word “God” into the platform, and affirming that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel.  After three attempts and obviously lacking the required 2/3rd vote, the convention chairman, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, ignored the voice of the delegates and continued reading the scripted proceedings from his teleprompter, announcing that the Ayes had won.  Amidst boos and looks of disgust, Villaraigosa soldiered on, the teleprompter trumping the vote.  Jon Stewart commented, “On the bright side we’ve finally discovered the evidence of Democratic voter fraud the Republicans are always complaining about.”

An audio analysis of the Yes (Aye) and No votes demonstrates that not only was there not a 2/3rd majority in favor of changing the language, but that the No vote was louder by at least 162% meaning that the changes were defeated by a majority of 62% to 38%.  This is close in fact to a two third majority in favor of the No votes.  Of course, if the votes had actually been counted, perhaps it would have gone differently, the loudness of the No votes might simply be evidence of the anger of delegates watching their democratic rights trampled before their eyes in the name of a foreign country. The one chance the delegates had to actually make a real decision at the convention, even though cynically presented to them, was shabbily and fraudulently denied them. 

As this little study makes it obvious, the voice vote extremely problematic as an measure of voter intent.  As was also obvious from the floor of the Democratic convention, people always have to struggle to make democracy work or it will not happen.

Read more: Can you hear us now? Audio Analysis of voter fraud at the Democratic National Convention.

Danny Glover objects to documentary’s screening in Tel Aviv

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Written by JTA JTA
Published: 14 May 2014 14 May 2014
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(JTA) — Danny Glover and others featured in a documentary about a 98-year-old Asian-American activist are protesting the film’s screening at a Tel Aviv film festival.
In a statement released Monday, participants in “American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs,” including Boggs, said they “formally stand with the people of Palestine,” support the call for a cultural and an academic boycott of Israel, and were “shocked” to find the film slated for inclusion at the Doc Aviv festival this week.
Boggs, a philosopher and writer who has been involved in left-wing American social movements, “has explicitly stated her support of the boycott and believes this screening is in direct contradiction to her legacy and ongoing work as a revolutionary,” the statement continued.
The producers posted the statement on the film’s website, but prefaced it by saying they had been “unaware that playing in the festival would be an issue for the participants of the film. We respect their position and regret the discomfort this has caused for them.”

Read more: http://www.jta.org/2014/05/13/default/danny-glover-among-protesters-of-documentarys-screening-in-tel-aviv

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