Israel's contempt for Tom

[Resistance]

Letter written by Jocelyn Hurndall, posted in The Guardian (and entirely ignored by every other mainstream news publication)

If my intelligent, courageous son, Tom, had not been left severely brain damaged by an Israeli soldier, he would have vouched for the fact that I am not prone to speechlessness. Words now fail me.

Two days ago, I received notification from my bank that the cheque sent by Israel's ambassador, for a fraction of the expenses incurred by the family for Tom's repatriation and for which we have had to wait five months, had not been honoured by the Bank of Israel. "Insufficient funds" was the reason given.

It is a mind-numbing task to understand the morality and to use the logic of the Israeli government. What hope do Palestinians have when such profound disregard and disrespect is shown to humanity, collectively and individually?

[drdon326]

1. OR...

If my intelligent, courageous son, Tom, had considered the risk of entering a war zone and not allowed himself to be used by a group of people claiming to be "peace activists" and then used as a propaganda tool by these same people who enable terrorists and really dont give a shit about my son other than a disposable pawn in their political agenda , he would had not been left severely brain damaged by an Israeli soldier during a defensive military action against mind-numbing murderous terrorists whose seemingly only goal is to kill as
many innocent israelis as possible.

[MariaS]

2. You are belittling Tom's sacrifice

Tom is one of those rare human beings that care and act on it. He cared that a nation of people have been threated as less than human for over 50 years by those that obviously learned nothing from their own persecution and misery. As the whole world stands by and lets this injustice happen I thank God for those who have the will and the way to stand up and speak out for what is right in the eyes of compassionate and caring people.

[brainshrub]

4. Tom is a hero

Where most of us are content to be armchair diplomats, Tom put his life on the line.

[JohnLocke]

3. Exellent emotional appeal.

[Gimel]

5. And words have failed her? nt

[tinnypriv]

6. Some interesting responses in this thread

Wonder how many would have the fucking balls to say that shit to her face. :eyes:

Tom is a hero.

[Name removed]

7. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Resistance]

18. apparently

it isn't only Israel that holds this murdered peace activist and his family in contempt

[Gimel]

8. I don't think it's contempt

edited for typing

I think that beurocratic errors are common in Israel. So they would like the check on a silver platter. They would like heaps of regret and chest thumping.

Undertaking to be a hero, Tom also undertook the possiblity of being a victim. 600 completely innocent Israelis have lost their lives in the past three years due to Palestinian terror attacks. Tom's devotion to his cause completely ignored that fact.

910 people have been killed by Palestinian violence and terrorism since September 2000.
Between September 29, 2000 and September 1, 2003, Magen David Adom treated a total of 5,794 casualties as follows:
743 killed, 504 severely injured, 710 moderately and 3837 lightly injured, among them 11 MDA staff members.
(IDF casualties treated by IDF medical personnel are not included in these figures.)

Note: This list also includes 6 Israelis killed abroad in terror attacks directed specifically against Israeli targets, and 3 American diplomatic personnel killed in Gaza.
http://www.mfa.gov.il/mfa/go.asp?MFAH0ia50


To be fair, here is the URL to casualties on both sides:
http://www.ict.org.il/casualties_project/stats_page.cfm

[bluesoul]

9. Yeah and 2,500 Palestinians

killed

[Gimel]

10. Read the data

1151 of the Palestinians killed were combatants while 315 were killed by their own side.

How many had their bodies filled with shrapnal and maimed for life? The wounded casualties on Israeli side are much more severe and debilitating than the Palestinians.

[bluesoul]

11. Oh I see

the Israelis suffer more when they're killed, Palestinians do not. And the number of civilians killed is much higher. I trust BtSelem much more...

289 Palestinian civilians were killed alone in 1988 by the IDF. The history of it did not begin 3 years ago you know. Overall the picture is much more clear concerning the civilians killed. And Israels leads by far as those victims are concerned...

[The Magistrate]

12. Bet S'lem, Mr. Soul

Does not seem to distinguish civilian combatants as a category; thus members of irregular armed bodies, because they do not operate in uniform, are counted as civilian only. There is a technical sense in which this is correct, but it is a signifigant distortion, in my view.

The internal relations of these figures are worth examining. Roughly a fifth of Israelis killed by Arab Palestinian militants are combatants; roughly four sevenths of the Arab Palestinians killed by Israeli forces are combatants. This is more than sufficient to demonstrate a much greater effort on the part of the Israelis to engage enemy combatants than is displayed by the Arab Palestinian irregulars.

It is a real weakness in advocacy for Arab Palestine, Mr. Soul, to ignore this disparity.

[bluesoul]

14. I am sorry, but Btselem clearly states

a separate column for civilians killed as opposed to combatants (militants) or suicide bombers that are not even counted in. And as for Israel engaging enemy combatants rather then civilians, we have seen many times It did not hesitate by assasinating certain people with bombing areas with large civilian population. In my book they're certainly not holding the higher moral ground here. The last 3 decades have been a clear enough picture for me to conclude that, sorry.. As for advocacy, there is enough of it for Israel, even unconditional support here, and I really don't know if taking the suffering of Palestinians into account and seeing the whole picture makes you an advocate for Arab Palestine. Sorry for caring those that are far more oppressed and killed..

[number6]

17. I agree.

"In my book they're certainly not holding the higher moral ground here."

[number6]

16. you have some data on that, ? link ?

.. ??
"The wounded casualties on Israeli side are much more severe and debilitating than the Palestinians. "

[Resistance]

19. I'd like to see a source for that claim as well

[Resistance]

20. oh well

there's no backup, we all know that.

[Name removed]

21. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Resistance]

22. of course it's contempt

Israel has got the money, and why offend the family by saying they want the check "on a silver platter"? You show the same contempt that Israel shows by talking about their perceived desire for "heaps of regret and chest thumping". Could you show at least the slightest bit of sympathy for parents who had their son murdered by an Israeli soldier?

[Name removed]

13. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Name removed]

15. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.