B’tselem spokesman admits that the report in “incomplete”

On October 25, 2001, the 5:00 p.m. Voice of Israel Radio Newsreel announced that the Israel research group Btzelem, financed by the New Israel Fund and European governments through the European Union, has issued a special report with the newsworthy finding that 42 Arabs had been killed since the October 17th assassination of Israel Minister of Tourism Rehavam Ze’evi.

The report does not mention how many of the 42 Arab fatalities were armed – only that 21 of the Arabs killed were civilians, including five minors and four women, and that ten of the dead were Arab security personnel.

The report does not mention the proximity of any of the fatalities to the gun positions of the PLO.

When our agency asked the Btselem spokesman why they have not provided the number of civilians who were armed, or whether the fatalities were near gun positions, the answer was that the report was not yet complete.

The report does not mention the proximity of the 42 Arab fatalities to Arab gunners who were firing machine guns and mortars against Israeli communities.

The report mentions that one Israeli civilian was killed during this time period, without mentioning that he was ambushed and murdered while on a hike on the Judean Desert, and that he was not caught in any kind of cross-fire during a riot.

The report ascribes the only reason for Israel’s action in the context of Ze’evi’s killing, without mentioning that Bethlehem, Beit Jalla, the UNRWA Aida refugee camp and Beit Sahour have been used as staging grounds for mortar attacks on Jerusalem’s southern neighborhoods.

The report describes the hermetic closure as “unprecedented in its severity”, without mentioning that the “unprecedented severity” of mortar attacks from these Arab villages on Southern Jerusalem.

The report describes the IDF attack on Hamas military officers as “four civilians extrajudically executed by Israel, without mentioning that they had taken credit for the recent murder of two Jewish women along with other Arab military attacks against civilian targets.

When we mentioned to the Btzelem spokesman that during a time of war you do not provide trials for the enemy – you kill the combatants, he remarked that Israel is not now in a time of war. When we asked about the Hamas military commanders that Israel had killed, the Btzelem spokesman remarked that the dead Hamas commanders were civilians and not combatants.

The report mentions that “hospitals have been hit” and “that their operations have been disrupted”. The report fails to report that the hospital that was hit in Beit Jalla is next to where the PLO has placed the gun positions to fire from on Jerusalem.

The report rejects the notion that it is a procedure for gunmen to “hide behind civilians and shoot”. Has Btzelem not witnessed the fact that the PLA has made it a policy to commandeer homes in Beit Jalla and to fire from those homes and to draw fire back at those homes?

The report calls on the IDF to “avoid fighting in population centers” without recognizing that that is where the PLO is attacking from.

The report condemns Israel for interfering with the “free movement of… medical crews” without mentioning that the IDF have intercepted Red Crescent ambulances that have been transporting arms. Btzelem neglects to mention that the head of the Red Crescent is Arafat’s brother.

The report rejects the IDF decision to “undertake a wide scale military operation within population centers”, without mentioning that the PLO has indeed decided to conduct a war from the haven of those very population centers.

The report continues the Btzelem policy of describing rock throwing rioters as “unarmed demonstrators”, so long as they are not armed with automatic weapons.

Yet Btselem calls the IDF troops “trigger happy”.

Perhaps the timing of the weekend press deadlines in Israel and around the world was the priority of the report.