Israel Matzav

Hamas 'cameraman' allegedly shot in Gaza

IDF troops operating around Gaza City allegedly shot and seriously wounded a Hamas 'cameraman' today. You can watch the video from the Arabic al-Jazeera by going here (this video cannot be embedded). Note that the man is signaling to his similarly dressed colleagues (who are alleged to be 'newsmen' in the al-Jazeera English video I will show you below) around the 9 second mark. Watch the two shells exploding near him - one of them looks like it came from the 'cameraman' instead of being shot at him. In the English version below, note the second shell at the 0:26 mark. Is it real or is it Pallywood?



Even if it's real, there's a lot al-Jazeera isn't telling you:

The Al-Jazeera satellite channel aired footage of Imad Ranem, a cameraman for Hamas Al-Aqsa television network, lying on the ground, after being hit, with his camera thrown beside him. He could then be seen getting shot twice more while lying on the ground. Medical sources in Gaza reported that both his legs had later been amputated and he is in critical condition.

An IDF source said Thursday that Ranem had been in the first line of fire and was not wearing a vest indicating he was a member of the press. The source added that the man was probably not a card-carrying reporter, because his footage would probably be used for Hamas propaganda, not news.

You can see al-Reuters' video (which is slightly less biased than al-Jazeera's) here.

There's a picture of the cameraman taken by AFP at the top of this post. I blew it up to 150% to take a good look. Does he look like a cameraman? Do you see a camera? And what is he carrying in his right pants pocket?

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 2:05 AM