'Evidence' presented in Abu Rahma death
An Israeli anarchist has distributed to the media evidence that Jawaher Abu Rahma died on Saturday as a result of inhaling tear gas during a Friday riot against Israel's 'security fence' in Bil'in. Israeli activist Jonathan Pollak presented the media with three documents Tuesday to counter IDF claims that a Palestinian protester had died from cancer and not from the tear gas she inhaled at Friday’s anti-barrier demonstration in Bil’in.The IDF continues to investigate so I'll reserve judgment except to raise a few questions:
Pollak e-mailed to the media a copy of a report from the Red Crescent ambulance and the Palestine Medical Complex in Ramallah, as well as a copy of CT scan from the Shafey Diagnostic Center in Ramallah.
...
A Red Crescent ambulance report, provided by Pollak to the Post in English, dated December 31, showed that the ambulance arrived in Bil’in at 1:20 p.m., to be on hand in case there were injuries at the demonstration.
It left Bil’in 2:15 with Abu Rahma and arrived in Ramallah by 2:43. According to the report, Abu Rahma was having difficulty breathing due to gas inhalation.
Separately, Pollak and members of Abu Rahma’s family have told the media that they saw her at the demonstration. Among them were her mother, Subhiye, who stood with her when she was first overcome by tear gas.
On Monday, Pollak had shown the Post a Twitter post from 2:36 p.m. Friday, which stated that Jawaher had been taken to the hospital. A Palestinian website reported the incident on 4:48 p.m. on Friday.
On Tuesday, Pollak also provided the medical report from the Palestine Medical Center, which was dated January 2, 2011.
It stated that Abu Rahma was drowsy when she arrived and had a changed “level of consciousness.” According to the report, she had “frothy secretion” and was sweating, after a “history of unknown gas inhalation by attack of Israeli soldiers as family said. No other associated symptoms.”
It noted that she had no chronic illness or history of previous illnesses.
According to the report, she was admitted to the intensive care unit, and put on a mechanical ventilator. The report added that she had not responded to treatment and that her heart stopped three times.
The director of the Palestine Medical Complex, Muhammad Eidh told the Post that to the best of his knowledge, she had not been treated by his hospital for cancer and that the family had told him that she was healthy.
According to Pollak, Jawaher had in recent weeks complained of an inner ear infection, which affected her balance, for which she was recently given a CT scan.
The radiologist who performed the CT scan, Dr. Hamis Al Sahfi’i, confirmed that the brain scan was normal, Pollak said. He also provided a copy of the scan, which was done at the Shafey Diagnostic Center in Ramallah.
1. Since when does the Red Crescent issue reports in English?
2. What is the value of a hospital report that corroborates the story that the 'Palestinians' have been distributing to the media when it was issued after the woman was dead and buried so that the hospital knew what it was 'supposed to say'?
3. How does a CT scan of the brain provide evidence one way or the other regarding Leukemia? How does it provide evidence of tear gas inhalation when it was done long before the tear gas was inhaled?
4. How can they claim that she was healthy on the one hand, and yet admit that she recently had a CT scan for an inner ear infection on the other hand?
5. Note that the hospital director says that she was not treated for Leukemia in his hospital. Could she have been treated elsewhere? The senior security source with whom I spoke on Monday night said that there is only one hospital in Ramallah. But Ramallah is just a few miles from Jerusalem (if I lived on the other side of the mountain, I could see it out my window).
I still smell a rat here. As the security source noted in our call on Monday, there is no known instance of death being caused by inhaling tear gas in an open area. Something here doesn't fit.
Labels: Bil'in demonstrations, Jawaher Abu Rahma, Pallywood, security fence
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 12:15 PM
4 Comments:
carl,
you asked the same questions that i did
all the reports are in bad, broken, english...is this normal?
and is pollack out on appeal? what happened to his 3 month sentence, and why is he allowed to continue participating in violent demonstrations.
and when did tweets become evidence of anything
btw, the witnesses who say they saw her succumb to the gas, also state that they and she were viewing the protest...not one says they were a part of it
and the one pic and one vid that are making the rounds, show a woman with her face obscured
i think the funniest thing that i have read was capo dicksteins umbrage about the idf wanting the med records...as if the accused has no right to see the evidence against them
That only thing that fits, Carl - its a convenient alibi to bash Israel. The truth doesn't really matter - the meme is out there the poor woman was murdered by the Jews. And establishing the truth will do nothing to dispel that already established perception.
She went to a riot of her own free will; the Palis anticipated the consequences w/ambulance etc. I don't know that it is vital to prove the woman wasn't there, or get super critical in parsing documentation with alternate scenarios--riots and semi-violent and violent protests are not free speech, caveat emptor.
I had Leukemia and was treated for four years, a CT scan is only done to see if it's caused a brain tumor. I'd have a brain CT every year when I had Leukemia, not for a status on the Leukemia but for chance of a brain tumor.
Now someone could have Leukemia and a suppressed immune system and CS gas could kill them, but that's not the fault of the people deploying CS gas, it's the person's fault for going in the line of fire with Leukemia.
And a CT scan for an ear infection? It all sounds fishy.
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