Reading The Pictures: Is That A Snuff Film The Israeli Air Force Has Posted On YouTube?

Three days into the Israeli bombing campaign on Gaza, when the media was still reporting separate Hamas and civilian statistics for injuries and fatalities, it looked like the Jewish state might actually succeed in carrying our a largely successful surgical bombing campaign.

On the 31st, I even wrote a post at BAGnewsNotes crediting Israel's for "substantial tactical and PR strides" since the Hizbullah/Lebanon engagement, while acknowledging the propaganda value of the IDF's YouTube channel and the Israeli Consulate's application of Twitter.

That, however, was before my readership called me out for linking to an IDF bombing video I, following the Israeli Air Force, read as a direct hit on Hamas members loading a flatbed truck full of rockets. Going back and investigating what one reader went so far as call an "IDF-YouTube snuff film," I amended my post with the following update:

Research from a number of sources, including the Israeli-Palestinian B'Tselem group in Gaza, indicate that the owner of the truck in the Israeli Defense Force bombing was not a Hamas member transporting rockets, but instead a civilian transporting gas welding canisters from his metalworking shop.

According to B'Tselem, eight people were killed in the bombing, including the son of the shop owner, Ahmad Sanur. As best as I can tell at this point, the video I linked to yesterday from the Israeli military's YouTube Channel (posted above, for as long as it remains on-line) documents the same attack on Mr. Sanur's shop. The second image of the gas canister was taken by B'Tselem field workers after the fact.

There are many issues this story raises, not the least involving the fallacy of aerial precision. What troubles me most, however, is how the IDF, in the name of transparency and smart public relations, has not only posted quite a few videos of bombing runs, but continues to show the one in question (at least, as of Thursday night), as if this apparent evisceration of civilians doesn't merit correction.

For more visual politics, visit BAGnewsNotes.com (and BAGnewsNotes @Twitter).

Comments

[onlyhere]

Amnesty International,Doctors Without borders and the UN has confirmed the use of Precision weopons on civilians, Three UN cites a Hospital and schools.

[MBFLA]

AND WHAT DID THE CHILDREN IN PALESTINE DO?

[Michale32086]

@Sam Sedaei

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What is terrorism?
{{{{{{

Terrorism is defined as ongoing and systematic attacks of violence specifically targeted against innocent civilian persons or property for the purpose of furthering a political, economical or ideological agenda.

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Israel has kept GAZA under siege for 2 years, a siege that BBC said was "sucking the life out of its citizens."
{{{{{

And yet, Hamas is able to evade the blockade and import "thousands and thousands of tons of missiles, weapons and military hardware" (Hamas words, not mine)

Now, just imagine how different things would be if, instead of "thousands and thousands of tons of missiles, weapons and military hardware" Hamas instead imported thousands of tons of foodstuffs and medicines and supplies needed to take care of their people..

It would solve two immediate problems..

But it appears that Hamas is more interested in killing Israelis than they are of taking care of Palestinians..

Why do you think that is?

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How about Israel's killing of civilians? Is that terrorism? Do you have a single definition for terrorism that can exclude Israeli actions but include HAMAS's?
{{{{

See above.. Israel is targeting legitimate military targets..

Hamas places those legitimate military targets in civilian areas and in school houses.. This is DOCUMENTED FACT, documented by PALESTINIAN NEWS AGENCIES...

Hamas is completely and solely responsible for each and every one of the civilian deaths...

"These are the facts. And they are undisputed."
-Captain Jack Ross, A FEW GOOD MEN

Michale.....

[Michale32086]

@tony_turan

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Your definition of,'terrorism'' is totally selective , killing 500 civilian defenseless compared to 4 Israelis , you called that MILITARY TARGETS ,, please,,,,,are you getting paid to make up stuff like this?
{{{{

On the contrary, my definition is borne of over two decades in the field..

"Terrorism is defined as ongoing and systematic attacks of violence specifically targeted against innocent civilian persons or property for the purpose of furthering a political, economical or ideological agenda."

If you dispute the definition or the claims, please specify exactly what you are disputing and provide cites, evidence and facts to back up your disputes..

If you dispute my definition of terrorism, please come up with how you define terrorism..

"Pssst.. This is about the time you run away."
-Shrek

Michale.....

[Michale32086]

@cdnnewsjunky

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Legitimate target? Where do you even begin with a statement like that?
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How about with the facts??

Like the FACT that Hamas is placing military equipment within civilian areas and placing weapons storage inside schoolhouses...

Michale.....

[jkoyas]

If what you say is true and Israel it only targeting Hamas, how come there are no dead Hamas soldiers in any of the photos or video coming out of Gaza. I have yet to see any dead bodies in uniform, no weapons, no guns. Just dead civilians. Wake up man, open you eyes and your brain......

[tbone99]

Do Hamas soldiers wear uniforms?

[inorbit]

If the people of Gaza don't want to be attacked by Israel they would be wise to stop firing rockets into Israel.

[Sam Sedaei - Huffpost Blogger]

It's HAMAS, not "the people of Gaza" that fire the rockets. People of Gaza are the ones that Israel is forcing to pay the price. And just because launching rockets is wrong, it doesn't mean that any punishment for it is acceptable. It's like executing someone for stealing a bar of candy because stealing is bad. Do not manufacture excuses for Israeli war crimes.

[Michale32086]

Actually, Hamas is punishing the Palestinian twice..

Once by committing terrorism against Israel so that Israel responds and again by placing their military hardware and their weapon depots in civilian areas..

While I DO have sympathy for the Palestinian people, that sympathy is tempered by the fact that they elected HAMAS...

They should have known better...

Michale.....

[tony turan]

why Israel called the bombing of civilians '',war'..,Hamas does possess jet-fighter,hamas does not possess navy-gunboat,,Hamas does not have all sophisticated American-made weaponry . My curiosity tell me there is something is really wrong, why American medias do not define WAR for their God-fearing citizens .

[FZliveson]

Tony_Turan:

So what does size have to do with it when the "underdog" kept snapping at the other's feet?
If David had not flipped the kill-shot at Goliath, he would have been crushed into
red paste protoplasm and the story would be different. Goliath would not have just
walked away laughing.

When the under-dog picks a fight with the big one, he has to
be prepared to take what he gets. Underdogs shouldn't scurry into the
pack of puppies and the mother dog, just after nipping at the legs of the big dog.

[tony turan]

Your definition of ,''big one'' is a false sense of security, Israel will not be considered by international communities ,''big one'', that's why Israel is very dependent to American Dollars and American-made weaponry. After the collapse of the economy in America, Israelis all of sudden is not the BIG ONE any more.

[cdnnewsjunky]

"as if this apparent evisceration of civilians doesn't merit correction." - Michael ShawClinical Psychologist, Publisher of BAGnewsNotes.com


For a small country, they're big on arrogance!

[savagetiger]

If this is a guy and his son loading metal working implements into a truck, why are there an additional 15 people helping out? Are we to believe that this man employs these men in his shop, and that they have nothing better to do than to help load some canisters?

I call B.S. Please keep in mind that this is in no way a comment, either way, on the legality recent acts or the plight of civilians, BUT,

this is quite obviously a cell loading some rockets on a truck. *Correction*: "was a cell". Seems absolutely legitimate to me.

[Gangwe]

I have appropriately flagged each video depicting violence as "adults fighting" on YouTube. It is morally deplorable for supporters of Israel to revel in the suffering of Palestinians.

[FZliveson]

Great...Another Censor on this planet. (Gangwe #1 post)
The truth of the article is full of conjecture.
There is no picture of the truck after the explosion.
There is an entertaining little stream of infrared photography
followed by other clips...but no injured or dead humans.
The world needs truth, not hissiefitting purists, who try to
eschew and obfuscate anything that doesn't FEEL quite right.
We all have choices about what we watch and where we meander
on the internet. YouTube is not subliminially broadcast into our
brains by microwave....Yet!

[Subversive]

Reading the comments demonstrates the Gordian Knot that is Middle East politics that has bedeviled politicians for 60 years: If you criticize Israel, you're an anti-Semite; if you criticize Palastinians, you're anti-Islamic, and on and on and on. You folks can criticize Clinton all day long, but ol' Bubba deserves credit for bringing peace to Northern Ireland. He acknowledged the IRA as the political leadership in Northern Ireland and brought them into the peace process (and caught holy hell for it from just about everyone). But it worked. When was the last time you heard about a suicide bomber in Northern Ireland?

[Katboy]

That would be NEVER!
The Irish Troubles have never, ever featured suicide bombers (except for the occasional idiot who blew themselves up by accident)..
In fact, most bombings in the last 25 years or so had warnings issued, so as to reduce the risk of civilian casualties.

Your other points about the peace process in NI show a huge lack of understanding.

Clinton was not particularly important to the process - he's rarely (if ever) mentioned in Eire or the UK.

The IRA being 'the' political leadership in NI? That's just ridiculous. The Catholics are still the minority in NI (though not for much longer).

You might be confusing Sinn Fein with the IRA (the BBC makes this mistake every single time) but. again, Bubba had little to do with Sinn Fein joining the peace process.

Please don't reduce other people's complex and painful histories into misunderstood soundbites in order to make a pedestrian political point.

[TXfemmom]

The Israelis have the area under observation and people are stupid enought to load cannisters on a truck?

I disapprove of Israel and its' actions in many ways, but the Palestinians/Hamas control their own destiny in this, in many ways. Hamas stops pounding Israel with the rockets and they stop doing this. War always brings destruction above what is wanted, it is not clean and it is not pretty.

Seeing Gazans and Hamas agents scream about Israel when they were pounding them with rockets into civilian areas does not make sense. Do they think any country would stand by and take that and not respond?

[MajorKong]

The Israelis and Palestinians are so deep into the cycle of attack-revenge-repeat that "Who started it" just depends on how far back you want to go.

The Palestinians would claim to be responding to the Israeli blockade - which is keeping food out of Gaza. Do they think any country would stand by and take that and not respond?

[cdnnewsjunky]

"The Israelis have the area under observation and people are stupid enought to load cannisters on a truck? " - - + TXfemmom

How silly of those Palestinians to want to feed themselves. So when America illegally invaded Iraq, did you quit going to work?

[FZliveson]

How many of you swallow, whatever is spoon-fed to you?
Look, we are lead to understand that a missile was shot at the truck,
or some laser guided explosive...Right?
Then we see flames that must go 100-feet in the air from some kind
of high explosive detonation, supposedly of the truck, itself.
Then in a separate picture, we see two cylinders, a little scorched maybe
but intact and both with their valves on them.

Those are NOT the two items in the truck. If they had been flammable they would have gone up.
If they had been near the exploding ordinance, they would be way way more damaged.
Someone put the idea of the two cylinders along with the footage of the bombing and,
hocus pocus, we have a media travesty.

[Subversive]

So you're saying that these people were loading rockets rather than oxygen, got bombed, then someone rushed out to find exploded oxygen containers and threw them around the bomb crater? All the while not knowing if more Israeli bombs could fall on them too? MMMMmmmm, not sure I'm swallowing what you're spoon-feeding me, FZliveson

[FZliveson]

Subversive:

1) What I am saying is that those cylinders were definitely not at the explosion site in that photograph. They are intact. They are NOT exploded. They do not have holes ripped in them. They are not bent. Both valves are on them.

2) Bomb Crater? What Bomb Crater? Did you see one? No....the film shows no crater, nor the truck WHEN the explosion went off. It could be an explosion of anything.

3) What makes you think that photo is near where the bomb went off. It is merely a photograph of a couple ugly gas cylinders WITH THEIR VALVES. If a huge explosion went off anywhere near them, they would have been thrown hundreds of meters from the site. (The article claims that a DIRECT HIT on the pick-up truck)

I'm saying those cylinders are NOT from where that direct hit on the truck occured. Something else happened and we are being spoonfed something that is NOT
the TRUTH. (What else is new?)

[Garioch]

You're knowledge of explosions what produces them and the results of that are far too shallow for you to be posting on here, back to Hollywood movies for you I'm afraid.
Oh and if you think the further cylinder if intact then please don't ever try filling one anywhere near other people would you.

[FZliveson]

1) You know nothing of my knowledge of anything other that what you read.
2) The further one IS intact. The bottom has flanges welded on it so it can stand up
and you can see the hemispherical bottom.
You are no authority on explosives...that's for certain

[Cheesemelt]

"not the least involving the fallacy of aerial precision"

Certainly laser-guided munitions are imperfect, but the video in question shows a strikingly precise hit. War is not Hollywood, doctor. It's brutal, horrific and ugly, but as someone who has seen it up close and personal, this exemplar rather neatly contradicts your surmise.

As far as the rockets vs. benign gas welding cannisters? From the pilots and/or weapon's officer vantage point, any alleged error would seem to fall well within the margin of error.

Frankly, given the night imaging capabilities of modern armies, and as regularly shown by the IDF and IAF, anyone dumb enough to be loading missile-shaped objects that are of similar shape and size to a known terrorist weapon, might possibly be worthy of a Darwin award.

http://www.darwinawards.com/

[cdnnewsjunky]

Ya, those silly Palestinians wanting to work to feed their families. Seems like the Israeli air force is about as useless as the USAF.

[joecash]

When is it acceptable to glorifying killing? Palestinians are attacked for it when they do it but when the IDF posts on Youtube its a "smart" PR move. And it doesnt matter if they are terrorists or civilians, murder should not be glorified - it should be condemned. I wish more Americans could see this - the polls today that showed Americans split on ISraelis military action would sway even more to oppose the current Israeli action.