Why is everyone forgetting that a little girl was killed on the way to school?
That is what I said to my dad last night, while we were watching the news. Maybe it is because of my young age (23), but I can’t find other words for it. When I look at where the media emphasis is placed in the Captain R. episode, I have a sinking feeling that the point is being missed. Even before the Chief of Staff announced and admitted that the inquiry had been flawed; before the “Uvda” television broadcast; before the “celebration” in the village; before the flawed inquiry itself; before the “confirmation of killing” – a girl of thirteen was killed while walking to school. It seems to me that we have forgotten that a little.
It wasn’t always like this. In the past, the army put in efforts to prove that the bullets which killed the boy Mohammed Al-Dura were not shot from the gun barrels of Israeli soldiers. This was out of a clear aim that not to depict Zahal as an army that kills children. Well, nowadays, there is no longer such concern for the image of Zahal. What has become important, is whether or not Captain R. switched the sear of his gun to “automatic” mode and shot a dead body.
There are three victims here. The first one is the girl, Iman El-Hamaz. She will never finish school, go to university, marry or raise a family. Of course, among the responses there will be one that says something like, “Very good! That way they won’t be Hamasniks!”. To those who think that way, I refer you to Iman’s family, who certainly will not become peace-loving now, and will probably turn their efforts to hurting all of us. The second victim is the company CO, Captain R. A Druze (so who cares?!) who joined Zahal, became an officer, and thought he was defending his country by killing a dangerous child who entered the off-limits zone. Only in a moment of weakness or loss of senses, he “used his weapon wrongfully”, and for that he is being sentenced.
The third victim is we, the citizens of Israel, who once had an army which was a source of much pride. This army brought us independence, defeated all of the Arab armies in 6 days, managed to turn the terrible situation of the Yom Kippur War into a victory, succeeded in driving the P.L.O. away from our Northern border, and even succeeded in bringing relative security to the citizens of Israel in the past 4 years. But today, we stand over the body of a dead thirteen year old girl (who looks like a ten-year-old), after a whole army outpost has shot at her, and say, “Kol hakavod leZahal”, or, “Hoorah to Zahal”.
