Hamas Fighters Identified in Mosque, School, al-Sammouni and Abd Rabbo Incidents

The Goldstone commission has been dealt another blow to its already tattered reputation.

Jonathan Halevi, who recently detailed how over 90 percent of the Gazan policemen killed in the initial Israeli strike were members of Palestinian terror groups, has now published a report that provides the names and personal details of Hamas operatives and affiliated terrorists killed in each of four highly publicized incidents in which the Goldstone report alleges Israel targeted Palestinian civilians. Halevi’s report deals with the strike on the Ibrahim al-Maqadma mosque, the shelling of the al-Fakhura UN school, the attack on the al-Sammouni home and the killing of Khaled Abd Rabbo’s daughters.

The al-Fakhura school shelling incident ignited widespread condemnation of Israel after UNRWA officials issued misleading reports that the school, filled with hundreds of civilians, was intentionally shelled. It was established soon after that the mortar shells struck outside the school on a nearby street. The Israelis claimed they hit a group of Hamas operatives, as well as several civilians nearby. The Goldstone report discounts the Israeli version that many of those killed were Hamas operatives, relying instead upon the witness testimony of Mohammed Fuoad Abu Askar, a senior Hamas official. Halevi reveals that three of Abu Askar’s sons were members of Hamas’s terrorist wing, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades. One of his sons had participated in no less than three separate attempted suicide bombing attacks. He also lists the names and personal details of six Hamas terrorists killed in the shelling outside the school.

Halevi also reveals the names and details of seven terrorists killed in the Israeli strike on the Ibrahim al-Maqadma mosque. This incident too was characterized as an indiscriminate attack against civilians by the Goldstone report. Again, the Goldstone mission relied heavily upon the witness testimony of known Hamas operatives.

Halevi discusses the much publicized incident involving the al-Sammouni family. Numerous members of the family were killed, allegedly by Israeli soldiers, who were accused of denying medical assistance to the wounded inside the house. The Goldstone report discounts the possibility that the Sammouni family had any links to terrorists as the family was not known to be affiliated with Hamas. Halevi, however, uncovers several members of the family in the house who were active in the terrorist group, Islamic Jihad.

The last incident discussed in the report is the testimony of Khaled Abd Rabbo, whose daughters were killed allegedly by Israeli soldiers despite testimony that there were no Hamas fighters in the area at the time. Halevi casts significant doubt on that testimony by citing Palestinian accounts that place four slain Hamas fighters in the same vicinity at the same time.

Halevi’s research demolishes the credibility of the Goldstone investigation of these four incidents. Even more disturbing is the realization that one Israeli researcher, lacking the access to Gaza and cooperation of Hamas officials that the Goldstone commission had, was able to identify numerous Hamas and affiliated terrorists at the scenes of four highly publicized incidents in which the Goldstone commission could find none.