AhlulBayt News Agency

source : Al Ahed News
Sunday

28 May 2023

7:26:12 AM
1369233

Washington Post: Israel carrying out extrajudicial killings of Palestinians, especially children

The Washington Post on Friday published an investigation into the direct targeting of Palestinians by the “Israeli” Special Forces, especially children, by killing them.

AhlulBayt News Agency: The Washington Post on Friday published an investigation into the direct targeting of Palestinians by the “Israeli” Special Forces, especially children, by killing them.

The newspaper pointed out that “Israeli” incursions have always been an essential element of life in the occupied West Bank, but they often occurred at night, and usually ended in arrests.

However, this year, under the most right-wing government in the “Israeli” entity’s history, an increasing number of incursions were carried out during daytime in densely populated areas like Jenin.

The Post synchronized 15 video clips of the bloody “Israeli” storming of Jenin on March 16, which led to the death of four Palestinians, namely Nidal Khazim, Youssef Shreim, Omar Awadin, and Louay Al-Saghir.

The Post investigation obtained video footage from surveillance cameras from the shops adjacent to the place of the raid. The newspaper spoke to nine witnesses and obtained testimonies from four others to re-film the intrusion in 3D.

The raid which was conducted by “Yamam”, the elite unit of the “Israeli” entity’s border police that conducts raids in civilian areas, caused the murder of Omar. “Israeli” authorities have not publicly commented on his martyrdom.

In response to initial questions about Omar, “Israeli” police said in an email to The Post that “the subject of your inquiry took an active part in the violent riot while endangering the lives of the troops.” However, it’s unclear what riot they were referring to, but the visual evidence reviewed by The Post showed no such riot before the shootings took place.

The police declined to review The Post’s evidence or to respond to follow-up questions.

The newspaper quoted a number of experts that the “Israeli” March 16 storming of Jenin is a violation of the international ban on extrajudicial killings, and that this violation is exacerbated by the fact that those whom the “Israeli” entity claimed were armed did not pose any threat to the “Israeli” forces at the time of the assassination. In addition to the presence of many civilians in the place.

“One can say with a degree of confidence that these are extrajudicial executions,” former UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial executions Philip Alston told The Washington Post after reviewing the evidence presented by the newspaper.

Alston added that the "failure" to capture the two youths "was then compounded by more fatal shots even after the two individuals had been neutralized".

For his part, former UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in the Palestinian Territories Michael Lynk said: “These killings are largely unlawful under international standards, and their illegality is compounded by the choice to carry out the assassinations in a clearly crowded civilian market.”

Lynk noted that neither of the two youths targeted in the raid "appeared to represent any threat, not even an imminent threat, and they could have been arrested."

Michael Sfard, a human rights lawyer who has previously challenged the legality of the “Israeli” entity’s assassinations in the so-called “Supreme Court”, called the Jenin raid “a perfect example of how ‘Israel’ carries out operations involving lethal force.”

The basic principle is that “do not open fire unless you are in danger,” said Roni Bailey, a lawyer with the Association for Civil Rights in “Israel”. But according to human rights organizations, the question of what constitutes a danger is hazy under “Israeli” law.

The newspaper said that some of the secret American documents that were recently leaked through the "Discord" platform shed light on the growing US fears that the “Israeli” incursions into the occupied West Bank, including the raid on Nablus on February 22, when the “Israeli” forces fired on a group of civilians, all of this may sabotage international efforts to calm the situation in the region.

Bailey added that one of the secret assessments of the “Israeli” entity’s storming of Jenin on March 7 warned that a raid of this kind would push the Palestinians to respond [i.e., revenge] with certainty.


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