Mohamed Abu Thahr, 16, and Nadim Nuwara, 17, the two teenage Palestinians shot in the heart and killed unlawfully by Israeli security forces, had their whole lives ahead of them. That their lives were cut short because of Israel's use of excessive and indiscriminate violence constitutes a war crime which must not be allowed to pass. Killed during a protest on Nakba (Catastrophe) Day, when Palestinians mark the creation of the state of Israel in 1948, neither teenager presented a direct and immediate threat to life at the time of their shooting. Yes, there was stone-throwing at the Israeli soldiers, as there is on so many other occasions, but based on witness accounts and medical records, the Israeli troops used live ammunition in conditions where there was no feasible justification for doing so. The troops were in zero danger, there was a lull in the clash, and the teens were shot from a very far 200 meters. It was a deliberate execution. Even if in the two-minute video, taken from fixed CCTV cameras at a Palestinian-owned business, it could not be ruled out that the two teenagers had been involved in earlier violence at the scene, at the exact moment they were shot they were not throwing anything or involved in anything violent. The Israeli military said the video had been edited, did not document the “violent nature” of the incident and also questioned a claim that live ammunition had been fired at the boys. But an Associated Press cameraman and a photographer who were at the scene confirmed that the footage was of the two shootings. Reuters, too, has viewed extended versions of the footage which it said showed no sign of interruption around the points where the youths are felled. Israel says it has opened an investigation, but as in so many other cases, it will not point the finger of blame at itself. Even before the inquest began, Israeli officials were already on the defensive. Although he said he hadn't seen the video, Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon described the soldiers as being in a life-threatening situation. He said that the officers acted accordingly and that the images had been manipulated through editing. Yaalon has obviously decided the soldiers are innocent and the teens were guilty before a single question at an enquiry is asked. Israeli army rules of engagement bar the use of live ammunition at a time when the lives of soldiers are not in danger. But the soldiers fired live rounds at the upper bodies of these youths in conditions where there was no feasible justification for using lethal force. The circumstances fit into a pattern. In fatal shootings, there are more than a handful of cases where live ammunition has been used without any apparent justification. The Israeli army said it believed only riot-dispersal means, including tear gas, rubber bullets and rubber-coated steel pellets were used and that the forces did not use live fire. So who did? The insinuation is that Palestinians shot the boys to make it look like the Israelis did it. The trouble with that theory is that Israelis have been killing Palestinians almost every day for the past 66 years. Palestinians do not have to kill one another, then put the blame on the Israelis; the whole world knows who to blame. The UN and even Israel's biggest ally the United States separately called for an immediate transparent investigation into the shootings. World powers must hold Israel accountable for these extrajudicial killings. It was a willful killing, the cold-blooded murder of defenseless children. It must not be allowed to pass.
