20 bullets for a 13 years old girl

On Oct. 5, 2004, the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) shot to death
Iman al-Hams. She was an unarmed 13-year old Palestinian girl, who
was on her way to school, near Rafah, in the Gaza Strip. Her body
was found riddled with 20 bullet wounds. The commander of the IOF
outpost stands accused of the vile act. Like American activist
Rachel Corrie; and British subjects, Tom Hurndall, James Miller and
Iain Hook; al-Hams is yet another victim of Zionist crimes."

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"Only Capone Kills Like That!" - George "Bugs" Moran

On Feb. 14, 1929, seven men, believed to be associated with the
Northside gang of George "Bugs" Moran, were lined up against the
rear wall of a Clark St. garage and machine gunned to death. The
massacre was orchestrated by Al "Scarface" Capone, who had been
feuding with Moran for supremacy of Chicago's lucrative criminal
enterprises. Capone denied any personal involvement, since he was in
Florida at the time of the ghastly event. On hearing the news of the
mass slaughter, Moran who had himself luckily escaped the Clark St.
carnage, said: "Only Capone kills like that!"

Moran's cogent quote came to my mind on hearing of the circumstances
surrounding the death on Oct. 5, 2004, of an unarmed 13-year-old
Palestinian schoolgirl, Iman al-Hams, by members of the Israeli
Occupation Army (IOF). NBC Nightly News, on Oct. 12th, ran an
account of the brutal killing. That was highly unusual in itself.
Normally, any news which is in anyway critical of Israel is
immediately dispatched down the "Memory Hole" without seeing the
light of day. Even Tom Brokaw, a Zionist sympathizer, who introduced
the al-Hams' segment, seemed taken aback by its viciousness. After
watching the NBC TV clip, I, too, was appalled. I also had a hard
time accepting the fact that my country is underwriting this kind of
state sponsored terrorism. Try $3 billion plus a year in freebies to
Israel and over $100 billion, since 1948 (wrmea.com).

The word "complicity" is also relevant here. Absent the U.S.'s
massive financial and military arms subsidies to Israel, and our
rubber stamping, since 1967, of its illegal occupation of the lands
of the Palestinians, I wonder: Would al-Hams still be alive today?
Would, too, all the other uncounted crimes associated with Israel's
unlawful occupation have occurred?
(www.endtheoccupation.org/index.php).

Before the Israeli state was sanctioned, in 1948, by the U.N., with
the support of the U.S., America didn't have any enemies in the
Mideast and the Palestinians were living in peace on their ancient
lands. Now, no American is safe anywhere on the face of the globe
("The Sorrows of Empire," Chalmers Johnson); and, millions of
Palestinians have been cruelly exiled by the IOF
(www.un.org/Depts/dpa/ngo/history.html).

When, if ever, are Americans going to connect the dots between
Zionist wrongdoing in the Middle East and our personal and national
vulnerability to terrorist attacks? When are we going to put the
interests of our Republic first? When?

The only thing I know for sure about this latest act of Israeli
barbarism, the wasting of the life of al-Hams, is that none of
Israel's lackeys in the U.S. Congress, such as Rep. Tom Lantos (D-
CA), Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA), Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) or Sen.
Joseph I. Lieberman (D-CT), will raise any objection to it. These
characters can be counted on by Tel Aviv to maintain their vows of
silence with respect to al-Hams' inexcusable killing, as they have
about Israel's deliberate and murderous attack on June 8, 1967, on
the USS Liberty (www.ussliberty.org/); the unforgivable
treason of the spy, Jonathan Pollard ("The Jonathan Pollard Spy
Case," Court TV's Crime Library, Denise Noe); and the indefensible
killing of American peace and justice activist, Rachel Corrie, in
Israeli-Occupied Rafah, on March 16, 2003. She was ran over twice by
a monster-sized Israeli bulldozer, while attempting to prevent a
Palestinian home demolition (www.rachelcorrie.org/).

According to a published report, "al-Hams was shot around 20 times
as she walked past an Israeli military outpost en route to school in
Rafah, a refugee camp on Gaza's border with Egypt...Unidentified
soldiers from the outpost told Israeli media that after the initial
volley killed the girl, their commander went out and fired into her
body repeatedly. The accounts were consistent with Palestinian
eyewitness testimony...Military sources said the company commander
has been suspended pending the results of an investigation into the
Oct. 5 slaying" ("Israeli Officer Suspended Over Gaza Girl's
Killing," Reuters, Dan Williams, Oct. 13, 2004). BBC News reported
on Oct. 11, 2004, re: al-Hams, that soldiers from the Givati brigade
platoon, in the Tel Sultan neighborhood, told Israeli
television: "(The officer) was hot to take out terrorists and shot
the girl to relieve pressure..."

Another news account of the killing of al-Hams, indicated that after
she was shot and had fallen to the ground, the company commander of
the outpost "approached the body and fired two bullets at her head
before switching his gun to automatic...Doctors found more than 20
bullets in her...'He pumped her full of holes. We were in shock, we
grabbed our heads. We couldn't believe what he was doing. Our hearts
ached for her...' Yesterday, an army source said an investigation
has begun, but it was 'too early to speak of criminal charges.' The
soldiers were so disgusted by the slow pace of an army investigation
that they approached the Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth to demand
the officer's dismissal" ("Dead Palestinian Girl 'Riddled with
Bullets,'" The Guardian, Conal Urquhart, 10/11/04).

Investigation! Dismissal! Criminal charges! Punishment!

Sure, Americans have heard those words before about Israeli outrages
from Israeli apologists, as have the British, and nothing is ever
really done about them. The family of Tom Hurndall, age 22, a peace
activist from Great Britain, who was shot, in April, 2003, at Rafah,
by the Israelis and reduced to a "vegetative state," is still
waiting for the truth from the Israeli authorities. Hurndall was
trying to "protect children under fire from Israeli soldiers."

James Miller's family, too, is looking for answers. He was a 34-year-
old TV cameraman from England, who was gunned down by the IOF, in
May, 2003, also at Rafah, in the Gaza Strip, while "filming
bulldozers destroying homes." And, then there is the case of Iain
Hook, another British subject ("The Invisible Death of Iain Hook,"
Ira Chernus, 11/25/02, commondreams.org). He was working for the UN,
in Jenin, which had just been subjected to a two week merciless
Israeli assault ("Searching Jenin," Ramzy Baroud, Ed.), when "he was
shot by an Israeli sniper on Nov. 22, 2002." His fellow U.N. workers
labeled his killing, "cold-blooded murder." The British families
have accused the Israeli authorities of "fabricating evidence,
suppressing investigations and covering-up deliberate killings"
("Families Seek Truth Over Israeli Deaths," The Guardian, Chris
McGreal, 10/20/03).

Tom Hurndall's grieving mother, Jocelyn, called the Israeli
government, "a deeply immoral regime which is cruel beyond human
understanding." I think she's absolutely right. I believe the family
of al-Hams, and all the other victims over the years of the Zionist
Death & Mayhem Machine, would agree fully with that opinion. A vast
majority of Americans would also agree, too, and demand and end to
the excesses of Zionist Israel, if they knew the full truth about
the so-called, "Only democracy in the Middle East"
(www.ifamericansknew.org/).

Finally, when I ponder how the innocent Iman al-Hams, only 13 years
of age, died at the hands of the Israelis, on Oct. 5, 2004, while on
her way to school, I feel compelled to say: "Only the Zionists kill
like that!"