Skip to main content

'Oh God, my daughters have been killed'

It is reported that Israelis are, in the main, behind what the military has been doing in Gaza. Then again, it is also reported that Israelis have not been provided with the full picture of the deaths, destruction and devastation which has been wrought in Gaza.

One can only hope that what Israelis witnessed on their TV news brings home to them, in the clearest of terms, the lawlessness of the actions their Government has sanctioned. This article in the LA Times [republished in The Age] is both hard-wrenching and poignant:

"It was a voice of anguish that pierced a nation. Israeli TV broadcast a father's heartbreak on Friday night when a Hebrew-speaking Palestinian doctor living in Gaza made a frantic phone call saying an Israeli tank had shelled his home, killing three of his daughters and injuring other family members.

Dr Izz el-Deen Aboul Aish had worked as a gynaecologist in an Israeli hospital. Even though the crossings between Gaza and Israel had often been closed in recent months, he had travelled frequently between the two.

But he had remained in Gaza since the Israeli offensive began 22 days ago. He gave interviews to the Israeli media on living conditions in the seaside enclave. He spoke of having tanks around his house and of passing through checkpoints; he told Israelis in their own tongue what it was like to be Palestinian.

Minutes away from a scheduled phone interview on Israeli TV 10 with newsreader Shlomi Eldar, Dr Aboul Aish called Eldar's mobile, screaming and weeping in Arabic and Hebrew.

The doctor's home had been struck by shells: "Oh God, oh my God, my daughters have been killed. They've killed my children. Could somebody please come to us?"

He said: "I want to know why my daughters were harmed. This should haunt (Israeli Prime Minister Ehud) Olmert his entire life."

Sitting at his news desk for one of Israel's main evening news broadcasts, Eldar held his phone up. For three minutes and 26 seconds, Dr Aboul Aish's wailing was broadcast across the country.

Eldar welled up. He put his head down. He looked at the camera. He looked at his phone. He made pleas for help and the doctor kept crying, until Eldar took out his earpiece and walked off the set.

The newsreader's bewildered face seemed to capture a pause in a nation that has largely supported its military campaign and prefers not to question its course.

News reports said there had been shooting in the area of the doctor's house before the shelling. An Israeli Defence Forces spokesman had no immediate comment. "We're still looking into the matter," he said.

Israeli officials permitted ambulances carrying wounded members of the doctor's family to cross the border. They were taken to hospital in Israel.

Dr Aboul Aish is a single father. His wife died of cancer.

He made his daughters sleep close to the walls of their home in the hope that would keep them safe if air strikes or artillery collapsed the ceiling."

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Reading the Chilcot Inquiry Report more closely

Most commentary on the Chilcot Inquiry Report of and associated with the Iraq War, has been "lifted" from the Executive Summary.   The Intercept has actually gone and dug into the Report, with these revelations : "THE CHILCOT REPORT, the U.K.’s official inquiry into its participation in the Iraq War, has finally been released after seven years of investigation. Its executive summary certainly makes former Prime Minister Tony Blair, who led the British push for war, look terrible. According to the report, Blair made statements about Iraq’s nonexistent chemical, biological, and nuclear programs based on “what Mr. Blair believed” rather than the intelligence he had been given. The U.K. went to war despite the fact that “diplomatic options had not been exhausted.” Blair was warned by British intelligence that terrorism would “increase in the event of war, reflecting intensified anti-US/anti-Western sentiment in the Muslim world, including among Muslim communities in the

An unpalatable truth!

Quinoa has for the last years been the "new" food on the block for foodies. Known for its health properties, foodies the world over have taken to it. Many restaurants have added it to their menu. But, as this piece " Can vegans stomach the unpalatable truth about quinoa? " from The Guardian so clearly details, the cost to Bolivians and Peruvians - from where quinoa hails - has been substantial. "Not long ago, quinoa was just an obscure Peruvian grain you could only buy in wholefood shops. We struggled to pronounce it (it's keen-wa, not qui-no-a), yet it was feted by food lovers as a novel addition to the familiar ranks of couscous and rice. Dieticians clucked over quinoa approvingly because it ticked the low-fat box and fitted in with government healthy eating advice to "base your meals on starchy foods". Adventurous eaters liked its slightly bitter taste and the little white curls that formed around the grains. Vegans embraced quinoa as

Climate change: Well-organised hoax?

There are still some - all too sadly people with a voice who are listened to - who assert that climate change is a hoax. Try telling that to the people of Colorado who recently experienced horrendous bushfires, or the people of Croatia suffering with endless days of temps of 40 degrees (and not much less than 30 at night time) some 8-10 degrees above the norm. Bill McKibben, take up the issue of whether climate change is a hoax, on The Daily Beast : Please don’t sweat the 2,132 new high temperature marks in June—remember, climate change is a hoax. The first to figure this out was Oklahoma Senator James Inhofe, who in fact called it “the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people,” apparently topping even the staged moon landing. But others have been catching on. Speaker of the House John Boehner pointed out that the idea that carbon dioxide is “harmful to the environment is almost comical.” The always cautious Mitt Romney scoffed at any damage too: “Scientists will fig