The IDF is regularly charged with over-reacting to Palestinian stone-throwers. Here’s today’s version, courtesy of Reuters:
Israeli soldiers shot dead three Palestinians Saturday in the bloodiest confrontation in at least two weeks in the West Bank city of Nablus while a fourth Palestinian was killed in the Gaza Strip…Palestinian witnesses said Amjed el-Masri, 15, was shot in the chest by a sniper as he threw stones at an Israeli armored vehicle from a rooftop in the old city area of Nablus.
Now, when most folks think of throwing stones, they probably think fist-sized, maximum. Here’s what was actually happening, courtesy Associated Press:
Those aren’t ‘stones’…they are cement blocks, and from a few stories up they are deadly weapons by anyone’s standards.
Interesting also that the AP story on the event (via Yahoo News):
a) doesn’t have this picture beside it, but rather pictures of an Israeli tank, water cannon, and women protestors ‘against occupation,’ and
b) the AP article refers to the Palestinians’ violence as ‘disputed’:
The cause of the violence was disputed. The Israeli military said troops on patrol opened fire after being attacked with rocks, firebombs and a concrete block dropped from a roof, while Palestinian witnesses said Israelis killed an attacker and two bystanders, including a 15-year-old boy on a rooftop who was watching troops pass.
One would think this photo (from the AP, no less) would be included here, given the fact that there’s a dispute regarding what the rooftop gang was doing.
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The BBC, meanwhile, called these men ‘protestors’: Three shot in West Bank protests
(Hat tip: Israpundit)
UPDATE: Yahoo News now includes the photo alongside this story – see it here. Original story, without the photo, captured here.
