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May 27, 2014
New Footage Contradicts DCI-P's Account of Betunia Casualties
Newly released footage of the May 15 disputed fatal shootings of two Palestinian teenagers during "Nakba Day" clashes in Betunia contradicts the account that emerged from a heavily-edited video released by Defence for Children International - Palestine, which alleged that the two were killed after the violent clash had died down.
As The Los Angeles Times put it:
But questions arose after rights organizations circulated videos Tuesday that purport to show the incident. The videos, released by the Palestinian branch of Defense for Children International and the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, or B'Tselem, appear to show the boys were unarmed and not engaged in confrontation with soldiers or close to them when they were shot.
Indeed, Fakher Zayed, a Palestinian interviewed in the DCI video, (see video below) claims:
At the moment of the killings, nothing was going on and no stone-throwing was taking place.
Based on the heavily-edited DCI-P footage, The New York Times reported:
Neither of the teenagers appeared to be engaged in provocative behavior at the time they were shot, though a photograph shows one wearing a black ski mask, and the video shows another individual hurling stones from the same spot seven minutes before the first shooting.
The 11 hours of footage that B'Tselem released today shows hours of rock-throwing before Nadim Nawareh and Muhammad Salameh were shot.
It also shows that Nawareh was part of a group of youth who continued to throw stones up until one minute before he was shot, not seven minutes. DCI-Palestine's deceptive editing made it appear that the stone-throwing ended fully seven minutes before the shooting, and this is what The Times reported. (See 39:22 minutes into the video below.)
The difference between one minute and seven minutes is significant. Was Nawareh shot in the midst of an ongoing violent conflict, or after the violence had dissipated?
The second fatality, occured only 2.5 minutes after rocks were thrown. However, at this point Salameh had been throwing rocks for hours. (View from 21:54 minutes from the video below.)
That the media was misled by DCI-Palestine is not particularly surprising. NGO Monitor documents, for instance, how DCI-Palestine Section promotes the "Jenin massacre" myth and advocates BDS, and its director, Rifat Odeh Kassis is also the coordinator and spokesman for the vitriolic Kairos Palestine document.
-- With research by Gidon Shaviv
Posted by TS at May 27, 2014 07:14 AM
Comments
How about all the cameras that rush in on the second video? Where can we see that footage? Oh, that's not in their favor so I'm sure they burned it or at the least won't publish it anywhere.
Posted by: Avi at May 28, 2014 03:21 AM
If this was a hoax:
1) Who were the two dead bodies or were they play acting?
2) Who, if anyone was buried?
3) If no one was killed, where are the two youths identified by the Palestinians as victims?
Posted by: Five Minutes for Israel at May 28, 2014 08:24 AM
Is it unusual for two separate but consecutive wounded people to suddenly stumble, and fall with outstretched arms to first break, then gently cushion their forward fall? Neither showed the sudden jerk that shudders the body at the moment of impact by a high velocity bullet. Interesting that both just happened to be in the center of the frame, unobscured, with bystanders ready to gather and gesticulate their horror....yet neither leaves bloodstains on the pavement which should be visible to the camera. Looks like an old-time silent movie where the audience is in on the gag.
Posted by: steve gerzof at May 30, 2014 03:45 PM
Just a tip, you can make the Youtube links above jump to a certain point in the video (rather than list the time the action in question occurs like you did). Just add "&t=XXmXXs" to the end of your Youtube link (the XX is for the # of minutes and # of hours. For example in your first video link that you refer to a specific part of the video, rather than the beginning of the video (the 2nd video link), would be "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5iFAIshk_nM&t=39m0s" Clicking on this will take you to the 39th minute on the video 22 seconds before the action takes place.
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Posted by: Timothy Smith at June 11, 2014 08:46 AM
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