PMW: PA mayor: Israeli army shapes explosives like toys to target Palestinian children

In an interview on PA TV News, PA Mayor Mustafa Fuqaha claimed that the Israeli army deliberately "targets children and young ones." The mayor accused the Israeli army of leaving behind explosives "shaped like pens and toys" after training exercises "to tempt children to touch them or pick them up." 



Palestinian Media Watch has reported how similar libels were voiced by the PA during the PA's terror campaign (the Intifada). In 2003, PA TV viewers were told that Israelis "drop objects from jet planes that attract children to play with them and then they blow up. These are bombs and mines designed as toys."

In 2001, the official PA daily claimed that Israel had taken "a new step aimed to kill more children" by throwing "large quantities of poisoned candies in front of two schools." The paper reported on a medic who, "when he collected ten pieces of these unwrapped candies, [he] felt the rubber glove on his hand melting, in addition to experiencing breathing difficulties, strong headache, and dizziness."

These are examples of the PA's systematic program of spreading libels about Israelthat Palestinian Media Watch continues to document. 

The following are longer excerpts of the libels accusing Israel of deliberately targeting children by making explosives and poison look like toys and candies: 

PA TV newsreader: "What kinds of explosives are left [by the Israeli army after training]? We are talking about the explosions they cause."
Mustafa Fuqaha, Mayor of Ein Al-Bayda in the Jordan Valley: "Some [explosives] are in different shapes. Some are shaped like pens, and some look like toys. Some are in different shapes to tempt children to touch them or pick them up. This is a real danger and real proof that the Israeli army targets children and young ones."

[PA TV (Fatah), Dec. 29, 2012]

"They (i.e., Israel) drop objects from jet planes that attract children to play with them and then they blow up. These are bombs and mines designed as toys."

[PA TV (Fatah), March 3, 2003]

"In a new step aimed to kill more children, the occupation forces (i.e., Israel) threw large quantities of poisoned candies in front of two schools last night... Salem Ahmad, a medic, said that when he collected ten pieces of these unwrapped candies, he felt the rubber glove on his hand melting, in addition to experiencing breathing difficulties, strong headache, and dizziness."

[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, May 22, 2001]

Israeli FUTURE WEAPONS | נשקים עתידניים של ישראל

The Israel Defense Forces - We Are Happy to Serve

Tribute to Israeli Chayalim "Our heroes -

Lyrics for the background song:
And when the sun is erased in the sky
and my heart drips
through my brown eyes
then I remember that there are hands
that want me near
I know that I have won love.And when the wind in the afternoon
spreads little branches
and in the meantime its pleasant
then I remember that there are eyes
that see me near
and I know that I have won love,
I know that I have won love.
And when the sun comes out above the water
and another gray day begins, and meanwhile theres no reason
then I remember that there are lips
that want me near
I know that I have won love
I remember that there are lips
that want me near
I know that I have won love

וכשהשמש נמחקת בשמיים
והלב מטפטף לי דרך העיניים החומות
אז אני זוכר שיש ידיים שרוצות אותי קרוב
אני יודע שזכיתי לאהוב
וכשהרוח אחרי הצהריים
היא מפזרת ענפים קטנים ובינתיים זה נעים
אז אני זוכר שיש עיניים שרואות אותי קרוב
ואני יודע שזכיתי לאהוב
אני יודע שזכיתי לאהוב
וכשהשמש יוצאת מעל המים
ומתחיל עוד יום אפור ובינתיים אין סיבה
אז אני זוכר שיש שפתיים שרוצות אותי קרוב
אני יודע שזכיתי לאהוב
אני זוכר שיש שפתיים שרוצות אותי קרוב
ואני יודע שזכיתי לאהוב

Yom Hazikaron

Remembering the thousands of Israeli soldiers who died protecting the Jewish homeland, and the Jewish nation! Hashem Yikom Damam!

British Colonel: "The IDF Did More to Safeguard Civilians Than Any Other Army"

Col. Richard Kemp, Former Commander British Forces in Afghanistan, spoke at the conference, "Hamas, the Gaza War, and Accountability under International Law," hosted by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs.
Col. Kemp reviewed the difficulties of any kind of warfare, but emphasized the challenges faced by Israel when fighting a terrorist organization that purposefully rejects and defies international law.
http://www.jcpa.org


HAMAS, THE GAZA WAR AND ACCOUNTABILITY UNDER INTERNATIONAL LAW
18 June 2009
International Law and Military Operations in Practice
Colonel Richard Kemp CBE

I will examine the practicalities, challenges and difficulties faced by military forces in trying to fight within the provisions of international law against an enemy that deliberately and consistently flouts international law.

I shall focus on counter-insurgency operations from the British and to some extent the American perspective drawing on recent British experience generally and my own personal experience of operating in this environment.

Soldiers from all Western armies, including Israel's and Britain's, are educated in the laws of war.

Commanders are educated to a higher level so that they can enforce the laws among their men, and take them into account during their planning.

Because the battlefield - in any kind of war - is a place of confusion and chaos, of fast-moving action the complexities of the laws of war as they apply to kinetic military operations, are distilled down into rules of engagement.

In the British forces, rules of engagement normally regulate military action to ensure that it remains well within the laws of war giving an additional safety cushion to soldiers against the possibility of war crimes prosecution.

In the most basic form these rules tell you when you can and when you cannot open fire.

In conventional military operations between states the combat is normally simpler and doesn't require complex and restrictive rules of engagement.

Your side wears one type of uniform, the enemy wears another; when you see the enemy's uniform you open fire. Of course there are complexities. The fog of war, sometimes literally fog, but always fog in the sense of chaos and confusion means that mistakes are made. You confuse your own men for the enemy.

The tragedies that have ensued from such chaos and misunderstanding are legion throughout the history of war. We call it blue on blue, friendly fire or fratricide.

And there are other complexities in conventional combat that make apparent simplicity less than simple. Civilians perhaps taking shelter or attempting to flee the battlefield can be mistaken for combatants and have sometimes been shot or blown up.

Enemy forces sometimes adopt the other side's uniforms as a deception or ruse. But in the type of conflict that the Israeli Defence Forces recently fought in Gaza and in Lebanon, and Britain and America are still fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, these age-old confusions and complexities are made one hundred times worse by the fighting policies and techniques of the enemy.

The insurgents that we have faced, and still face, in these conflicts are all different. Hizballah and Hamas over here, Al Qaida, Jaish al Mahdi and a range of other militant groups in Iraq. Al Qaida, the Taliban and a diversity of associated fighting groups in Afghanistan. They are different but they are linked.

They are linked by the pernicious influence, support and sometimes direction of Iran and/or by the international network of Islamist extremism.

These groups, as well as others, have learnt and continue to learn from each others' successes and failures. Tactics tried and tested on IDF soldiers in Lebanon have also killed British soldiers in Helmand Province and in Basra.

These groups are trained and equipped for warfare fought from within the civilian population.

Do these Islamist fighting groups ignore the international laws of armed conflict? They do not. It would be a grave mistake to conclude that they do. Instead, they study it carefully and they understand it well.

They know that a British or Israeli commander and his men are bound by international law and the rules of engagement that flow from it. They then do their utmost to exploit what they view as one of their enemy's main weaknesses.

Their very modus operandi is built on the, correct, assumption that Western armies will normally abide by the rules.

It is not simply that these insurgents do not adhere to the laws of war. It is that they employ a deliberate policy of operating consistently outside international law. Their entire operational doctrine is founded on this basis....