"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!"

© William Hughes 2004

William Hughes is the author of “Saying ‘No’ to the War Party” (IUniverse, Inc.). He can be reached at liamhughes-AT-comcast.net.