Wednesday, March 01, 2006
Armed groups propaganda distorts a civilian death.
In my post on the invasion of Balata, I mentioned 2 boys who were shot in Balata on the roof of their house. The boys both aged 17 are believed to have been killed with a single bullet by a sniper in an occupied house across the road. The brother of one of the boys was also shot in the leg.
We met up with Mohammed (holding baby) another one of the brothers in the family. The Israeli army has put out press statements stating that the two boys were making a bomb, but as Mohammed pointed out "everyone knew the house across the road was occupied by soldiers, so why would the pair be dumb enough to make a bomb in plain sight." The actually room we met Mohammed in was about to become a computer store run by his brother, who had a whole career in front of him (hardly the profile for a bomber).
Yet despite his brothers civilian status, both he and the other boy were made out to be militants appearing in an Al Aqsa Martyr poster. The poster below (unfortunately I forget if it is Mohammad's brother or the other guy), shows him carrying a rifle. The whole image has been photoshoped on a computer to turn the boy into something he isn't and try to turn a victim into some sort of armed hero to spur on the fighters. The side effect of this is to reinforce the Israeli propaganda machine which tries to make out that they only kill militants et.
We met up with Mohammed (holding baby) another one of the brothers in the family. The Israeli army has put out press statements stating that the two boys were making a bomb, but as Mohammed pointed out "everyone knew the house across the road was occupied by soldiers, so why would the pair be dumb enough to make a bomb in plain sight." The actually room we met Mohammed in was about to become a computer store run by his brother, who had a whole career in front of him (hardly the profile for a bomber).
Yet despite his brothers civilian status, both he and the other boy were made out to be militants appearing in an Al Aqsa Martyr poster. The poster below (unfortunately I forget if it is Mohammad's brother or the other guy), shows him carrying a rifle. The whole image has been photoshoped on a computer to turn the boy into something he isn't and try to turn a victim into some sort of armed hero to spur on the fighters. The side effect of this is to reinforce the Israeli propaganda machine which tries to make out that they only kill militants et.
