Almost a year after skirmishes on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem ended with one Palestinian rioter critically injured under disputed circumstances, VICE News continues to demonize the Jewish state over what experts familiar with the case believe was a medical emergency unrelated to Israeli police actions.
In a 43-minute documentary that aired on March 18, 2023, deceivingly titled “Death of a Palestinian Protester,” VICE charges the Israeli police with shooting dead Walid Al-Sharif, despite medical officials insisting that his body showed no signs of an external injury caused by live ammunition.
By insinuating — without a shred of solid evidence — a sinister cover-up that includes the Israeli government, police, forensic pathologists, and doctors at Jerusalem’s top hospital, VICE World News has once again proven that its only goal is to tarnish Israel.
Sorting Fact From Fiction
First, the facts: In the early hours of Friday, April 22, 2022, hundreds of Palestinian rioters staged a pre-planned violent provocation at the Al-Aqsa Mosque, hurling rocks and fireworks toward Israeli police officers stationed at the holy site. The outburst of violence came after Hamas, the US-designated terrorist group that rules the Gaza Strip, had threatened further escalation amid a terror wave that, at that point, had already killed 15 Israelis.
Video footage shared on social media showed scores of rioters waving Hamas flags and chanting slogans in support of terrorism. While security forces initially ignored the disturbances, riot police moved in after Palestinians tried to attack Jewish worshippers at the Western Wall with improvised explosives.
In the early morning hours hundreds of violent rioters began mass riots on the Temple Mount that included stone throwing and setting off fireworks. Despite the riots, police did not respond in order to enable worshipers at Al-Aqsa Mosque to complete the prayer. (1/4) pic.twitter.com/H94XX0tK16
— Israel Foreign Ministry (@IsraelMFA) April 22, 2022
During the confrontation that ensued, some 27 Palestinians sustained injuries. At least one police officer required medical treatment after being hit in the face by a rock.
Among those injured was Walid Al-Sharif, a 21-year-old Palestinian from eastern Jerusalem who participated in the riot by throwing stones at security forces. Al-Sharif had somehow fallen to the ground as he ran away from police forces, hitting his head on the stone pavement. Following CPR by police and first responders, he was transferred to the Hadassah Medical Center, passing away on May 14 after a three-week coma.
Within hours of his death, Hamas confirmed that Al-Sharif was a member of the terror group.
Walid Al-Sharif, 21, who reportedly died deu injuries sustained in a riot on the Temple Mount, was caught on camera rioting and throwing stones at Israelis, according to Hadassah Hospital. He was not injured by a rubber bullet, but fell during a chase. pic.twitter.com/DcgfDvRmec
— Adin – עדין (@AdinHaykin1) May 14, 2022
Related Reading: Media’s Eyes Wide Shut: Iran’s ‘Hidden’ Hand Behind Palestinian Violence Atop Temple Mount
Hospital: Heart Condition Caused ‘Massive’ Brain Injury
Here’s where the story gets muddy: According to Al-Sharif’s family members, who refused an autopsy on the body, the young Arab hit his head on the pavement because he was shot from behind with a sponge-tipped bullet fired by Yasam counter-terrorism officers.
However, government officials, police, doctors, forensic pathologists, and other experts dispute these allegations. Crucially, medical files obtained by the Haaretz daily state that there were no marks on Al-Sharif indicating that he was hit by a sponge bullet. Rather, experts at the top-rated Hadassah Hospital believe he collapsed due to a heart condition, causing the “massive” brain injury that eventually led to his death. In 2019, Walid suffered from a “similar problem,” as Haaretz police reporter Josh Breiner pointed out.
Enter VICE News’ Hind Hassan, formerly of Al Jazeera, known for twisting the facts to advance an anti-Israel narrative. In her March 18 “special report,” produced in collaboration with multiple other AJ alumni, Hassan claims that “all the evidence collected by VICE World News since last April points to Sharif being shot by Israeli police on the 22nd of April 2022.”
It is imperative to note that VICE did not see Walid’s full medical records, and its accusations are essentially based on testimony from three people, coupled with a large dose of conjecture and conspiracy thinking:
- Israeli-Arab politician Dr. Ahmad Tibi, who asks: “Isn’t it strange that when the bullet was fired, the bullet fired by the occupation police [sic] in Walid’s direction coincided with his injury and his falling down? How strange that he had a heart attack at this particular moment.”
- Biomechanics specialist Jeremy J. Bauer, who analyzed video footage and claims no heart condition could have caused Al-Sharif’s fall as “a heart attack would not result in immediate loss of consciousness.”
- Research by the activist collective Forensic Architecture, which concluded that some sponge-tipped bullets were fired “in Walid’s direction.”
Related Video: HonestReporting Call to Action: Help End Vice News’ Biased Coverage of Israel
VICE’s Unqualified ‘Expert’ Witnesses
Indeed, upon further examination, none of VICE’s expert witnesses seem qualified to comment on the complex case of Walid Al-Sharif’s passing.
Dr. Ahmad Tibi, a disgraced gynecologist and longtime member of Israel’s parliament for the radical Hadash-Ta’al alliance, is the only interviewee who saw Al-Sharif during his hospitalization. Yet when asked for proof of his vague theories, Tibi initially dodges the question, later only verifying that the man “had a head injury and an edema in the head.”
He at no point contradicts the official medical account, speaking only in hypotheticals when accusing the Jerusalem police of shooting Walid. Surely, if Tibi had noticed an injury consistent with that of a wound from a sponge-tipped bullet, wouldn’t he have spoken up?
Meanwhile, Jeremy Bauer is introduced as an independent expert who “testif[ies] in court as to why a person might have tripped, slipped, or fallen.” But Hind Hassan omits that Bauer is known to work closely with the anti-Israel group Forensic Architecture, having contributed in 2021 to a controversial report that sought to exonerate a Palestinian terrorist who carried out a car-ramming attack.
A biomechanist lacking any formal medical education or training, Bauer’s blanket assertion based on a short video clip that no heart condition could have caused Al-Sharif’s fall can hardly be given credence. Why would someone who studies the physics of human movement know better than cardiologists at Hadassah Ein Kerem, a world-renowned cardiology center, who had access to Walid’s full medical history?
For its part, the London-based anti-Israel collective Forensic Architecture has a long history of smearing the Jewish state, including by spreading conspiracy theories and using unreliable sources to inform its pro-Palestinian “investigations.” Forensic Architecture’s analysis seemingly confirms that Yasam officers fired in the approximate direction of Walid from a distance of 40-50 meters (130-165 feet). However, the collective fails to prove that the sponge grenade actually hit him — somehow without causing visible injuries.
Notably, while Hassan tells viewers that similar ammunition has “killed people before,” this involved cases where the person was shot from a much shorter distance (e.g., 10 meters / 33 feet).
Related Reading: Israeli Troops ‘Executed’ Terrorist? British Media Spread Biased ‘Investigation’
1/🧵 Without presenting any conclusive evidence, @VICENews' @HindHassanNews claims that Israel's riot police caused the death of Palestinian Walid al-Sharif during violent clashes on April 22, 2022. https://t.co/k9FDpAYIil
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) March 19, 2023
In a court of law, the prosecution must prove without a reasonable doubt that the accused is guilty. Yet VICE’s “11-month investigation” into the death of Walid Al-Sharif boils down to nothing more than a meritless conspiracy theory. Without presenting medical records or eyewitness reports, the outlet essentially charges the Jewish state with conjuring up an elaborate scheme, involving countless officials, to cover up the death of a Hamas terrorist.
Clearly, for anti-Israel activists like Hind Hassan, the facts don’t matter.
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