Elder of Ziyon digs up the story of Omar Silawi. When Silawi wasn't filming for Hamas's Al-Aqsa TV, he fired mortars and processed explosives for the Mujahidin of al-Qassam Brigades. He was killed on his way to get footage of IDF shelling.
The Palestinian Center for Human Rights — and the news services that rely on it — list him as one of the "civilians" killed during the Gaza war. Silawi's a great example of the way the Palestinians blurred distinctions between civilians and combatants.
Last month, The New Republic talked with Khalil Shaheen of the PCHR and Jonathan Dahoah Halevi, a retired Israeli intelligence officer about the discrepancy between Israeli and Palestinian casualty figures:
Many of the disparities between the PCHR and IDF numbers seem to be definitional. The IDF has repeatedly stated that any member of Hamas security forces–armed or unarmed–is fair game. Shaheen has a much narrower definition of an uninvolved civilian: "According to international humanitarian law, all armed people are classified as militants and all the people who are unarmed [are civilians]," he says. So if the person was armed at the time of death–which he or his fieldworkers determine by investigating the bodies as they arrive at the hospital–he'll count them as a militant. If the person is not armed, his team will check with family members, neighbors, political parties and Palestinian armed factions to determine the deceased's status as a militant or a civilian. He also checks press releases issues by armed factions. "[The IDF] can say whatever they want," he says. "I mean, [these are] facts on the ground."
But even facts can be subjective. For example, Halevi accuses Shaheen's organization of mislabeling Hamas cleric Nizar Rayan as a civilian. Shaheen explains that Rayan was killed in an Israeli airstrike on his home. There are jihadist posters of Rayan all over Gaza, and yet, "I cannot count him as a militant or fighter," Shaheen says. Rayan was unarmed with his wives and children when he was killed, Shaheen explains. "I cannot count this case as a fighter because he didn't participate as a fighter in the offensive. He was a civilian the whole time–going to the mosque, praying, coming back to his house."
Keep in mind that Silawi was employed by Al-Aqsa TV, which means his "civilian" paycheck came from Hamas. Earlier this year, the station was banned in France after regulators determined the broadcasts breached European laws "prohibiting incitement to hatred or violence on the grounds of race, religion or nationality."
Read the whole TNR story for more on the divergence of the stats. And see NGO-Monitor for more on PCHR.
