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Monday, February 16, 2009

IDF: Hamas lied, terrorists died

The IDF has done a comprehensive review of the casualties from Operation Cast Lead and - surprise - discovered that contrary to 'Palestinian' claims, more than two thirds of those killed in Operation Cast Lead were terrorists. Here's an example of how the 'Palestinians' distorted the figures:
As an example of such distortion, he cited the incident near a UN school in Jabalya on January 6, in which initial Palestinian reports falsely claimed IDF shells had hit the school and killed 40 or more people, many of them civilians.

In fact, he said, 12 Palestinians were killed in the incident - nine Hamas operatives and three noncombatants. Furthermore, as had since been acknowledged by the UN, the IDF was returning fire after coming under attack, and its shells did not hit the school compound.

"From the beginning, Hamas claimed that 42 people were killed, but we could see from our surveillance that only a few stretchers were brought in to evacuate people," said Levi, adding that the CLA contacted the PA Health Ministry and asked for the names of the dead. "We were told that Hamas was hiding the number of dead."

As a consequence of the false information, he added, the IDF was considering setting up a "response team" for future conflicts whose job would be to collect information, analyze it and issue reports as rapidly as possible that refuted Hamas fabrications.

Basing its work on the official Palestinian death toll of 1,338, Levi said the CLA had now identified more than 1,200 of the Palestinian fatalities. Its 200-page report lists their names, their official Palestinian Authority identity numbers, the circumstances in which they were killed and, where appropriate, the terrorist group with which they were affiliated.

The CLA said 580 of these 1,200 had been conclusively "incriminated" as members of Hamas and other terrorist groups.

Another 300 of the 1,200 - women, children aged 15 and younger and men over the age of 65 - had been categorized as noncombatants, the CLA said.

Counted among the women, however, were female terrorists, including at least two women who tried to blow themselves up next to forces from the Givati and Paratroopers' Brigades. Also classed as noncombatants were the wives and children of Nizar Rayyan, a Hamas military commander who refused to allow his family to leave his home even after he was warned by Israel that it would be bombed.

The 320 names yet to be classified are all men; the IDF has yet complete its identification work in these cases, but estimates that two-thirds of them were terror operatives.

The CLA gave the Post the names of several fatalities who it said had been classified by the Palestinians as "medics," but who it stated were Hamas fighters, including Anas Naim, the nephew of Hamas Health Minister Bassem Naim, who was killed during clashes with the IDF on January 4 in the Sheikh Ajlin neighborhood of Gaza City.

Following the clashes, the Palestinian press reported that Naim was killed and that he was a medic with the Palestinian Red Crescent. The Gaza CLA, however, produced photographs of Naim posing holding a rocket-propelled grenade launcher and a Kalashnikov assault rifle that had been posted on a Hamas Web site [see picture at the top of this post. CiJ].
The problem with this kind of research (and it's amazing that the IDF could do it) is that it takes time to complete. The 'Palestinians' release their lies in real time or close to it.

Were it not for the drones filming everything it would be much more difficult to respond at all.

5 Comments:

At 8:59 AM, Blogger LB said...

I'm very surprised the IDF did this. It's very very good of course.

I wonder which department actually did the legwork. Maybe this is the beginning of a trend in which the IDF does not keep sending people to stick their finger in the dike - and is actually proactive not (hardly) reactive.

On second thought... nah.

 
At 9:02 AM, Blogger Thud said...

An extra zero on those figures would have been much better.

 
At 11:10 AM, Blogger Carl in Jerusalem said...

LB,

Actually, the IDF says it is working on a real time capability for the next war. From the article I linked:

"As a consequence of the false information, he added, the IDF was considering setting up a "response team" for future conflicts whose job would be to collect information, analyze it and issue reports as rapidly as possible that refuted Hamas fabrications."

The IDF spokesperson's office was much more proactive in this war than they were in the Second Lebanon War. In the Second Lebanon War, I never heard from them (okay, I had been blogging for six months when it started, but I did manage to break one big story). The IDF spokesperson's office contacted me the first night that Operation Cast Lead started, and I was in touch with them constantly throughout the war. And I know I was not the only one.

 
At 11:13 AM, Blogger LB said...

It's good to know that there is improvement, and some people are doing great jobs in the PR dept, as well.

I'm so cynical because my experience, in more than just PR (both from the inside and out) is that the policy is one of putting out fires - not one of making sure they don't start in the first place.

 
At 5:25 PM, Blogger NormanF said...

All of this research is wonderful for history, I'm sure. But its unlikely to change the minds of those who just plain hate Jews. The truth doesn't affect the way they view what Israel did in Gaza.

 

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