Video: Palestinian woman shot, left to bleed by Israeli soldiers

Ali Abunimah Rights and Accountability 22 September 2015

This video posted by the news agency PalMedia shows a young Palestinian woman left to bleed on a sidewalk in the occupied West Bank city of Hebron after she was shot by Israeli soldiers on Tuesday morning.

By evening, Palestinian media reported that the woman, 18-year-old Hadil Salah Hashlamoun, had died of her injuries.

Instead of being given immediate medical treatment, the video shows her being pulled roughly out of the frame of the camera, her scarf coming off as her head drags on the ground.

Israeli settlers and soldiers can be seen standing around, and in some cases smiling and laughing in the background.

Wattan TV reported that the young woman was left to bleed for more than 30 minutes.

In a separate incident, a Palestinian man was also killed overnight by Israeli forces near Hebron.

Local sources told Ma’an News Agency that Diyaa Abdulhalim Talahmah, 21, was killed by the army during a raid in the village of Khursa.

Israel has claimed he tried to throw a Molotov cocktail at its soldiers.

These shootings come just days after Israel loosened even further its already lax permission to its forces to use live ammunition against Palestinians.

Checkpoint shooting

Wattan TV named the young woman in the video as 18-year-old Hadil Hashlamoun.

The Israeli army claimed that she was shot after she tried to stab a soldier, the Tel Aviv newspaper Haaretz reported. But photos and eyewitnesses contradict this account.

An Israeli army spokesperson said that the incident had occurred around 8am at the so-called Container Checkpoint near Shuhada Street, Ma’an News Agency reported.

The spokesperson said the woman approached the checkpoint in order to carry out the attack and Israeli forces responded with gunfire.

The army said that the young woman was treated on site by Israeli medics and then taken to hospital.

Her father, Saleh Hashlamoun, told Wattan TV earlier on Tuesday that his daughter had been hit in the abdomen several times and was in serious but stable condition at Shaare Tzedek hospital in Jerusalem.

By evening she had died.

No weapon

The Hebron-based group Youth Against Settlements published several photos on its Facebook page that it says show the young woman immediately before and after the shooting.

An image published by Youth Against Settlements shows Hadil Hashlamoun surrounded by Israeli soldiers at a checkpoint in Hebron.

The photos show a person dressed in a long black dress and headcovering, carrying a briefcase. In none of the images is she holding any sort of weapon.

Several Israeli personnel are pointing weapons at her.

Youth Against Settlements suggests the photo sequence shows that Hashlamoun tried to leave the checkpoint before she was shot.

An image published by Youth Against Settlements shows Hadil Hashlamoun lying injured.

Other photos show the person lying on the ground with at least one bullet wound, the same briefcase visible near her.

Additional photos show the scene of the shooting, including blood on the ground and bullet holes in a metal door, after the victim was removed.

Eyewitnesses

One eyewitness, a European activist, told The New York Times that Hashlamoun had simply opened her purse to allow it to be inspected, at the request of a soldier.

“When she was opening at her bag, he began shouting: ‘Stop! Stop! Stop! Don’t move! Don’t move!’” the activist said. “She was trying to show him what was inside her bag, but the soldier shot her once, and then shot her again.” Several more soldiers raced over and also fired at her.

A second witness, 34-year-old Fawaz Abu Aisheh, told the Times that Hashlamoun appeared “frozen” and in shock. Abu Aisheh said he had opened a gate inside the checkpoint so that Hashlamoun could back away from the soldiers. She tried to do so.

“Even if she had a knife, she would have to leap over a barrier about a meter high to reach a soldier,” Abu Aisheh added. “There were six or seven soldiers with heavy weapons. There was no need for that assassination.”

The Times said it had seen photos corroborating these accounts. Abu Aisheh appears in some of the images.

Abu Aisheh has also given a detailed account to Ma’an News Agency refuting the Israeli claims.

Unverified claims

While Palestinians undoubtedly have an internationally recognized right to resist Israeli military occupation, the unverified claims of the army should never be taken for granted as accurate.

Similar claims have habitually turned out to be false when independent evidence has been available.

In July, a video revealed that 17-year-old Muhammad Ali al-Kasbeh was shot dead by Israeli colonel Yisrael Shomer as he ran away, near Ramallah.

This falsified the army’s version that the Israeli had been in imminent danger when he fired.

Israeli human rights group B’Tselem warned that the high-level backing Shomer received would only reinforce an “unlawful message” to occupation soldiers that they are “allowed and even encouraged to shoot to kill a Palestinian stonethrower, even if he’s running away and does not constitute a danger.”

In December 2012, Israeli Border Police officer Nofar Mizrahi claimed she shot dead 17-year-old Muhammad al-Salaymeh at a checkpoint in Hebron as the teen held a pistol to another soldier’s temple.

A video proved Mizrahi’s account to be a lie.

In May 2014, video caught Israeli soldiers shooting dead two teens in the West Bank village of Beitunia at long distance and in cold blood.

In July 2014, Israeli police spread false rumors that 16-year-old Muhammad Abu Khudair had been murdered by his family in an “honor killing” for being gay.

Police later arrested several Israeli Jews in the abduction and burning to death of the youth, which occurred at a time of intense anti-Palestinian incitement in Jerusalem.

The systematic impunity Israel affords its occupation personnel and settlers means that Israeli claims are almost never seriously investigated and Palestinians have no recourse for protection or justice.

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Comments

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Erling losenborg replied on

The israeli soldiers are icecold murderes,that is the truth.Why don't the world stop this awful and psychopatic regime

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tom hall replied on

Hadil Salah Hashlamoun was murdered twice: once when they shot her, and again when they left her to bleed uncared for in the streets of Occupied Palestine.

What could this young woman have possibly done to these hyper-vigilant killers that required them to open fire on her? The article quite rightly points out that the Israelis have produced no weapon of hers to display before the cameras.

They killed her because they saw how she was dressed, and the symbolism frightened them. And they killed her because she was Palestinian, which frightens them even more. Finally, they killed her because they knew they could, and there would be no repercussions.

These murders are an everyday occurrence in Occupied Palestine, along with a thousand other crimes and indignities. When will we be able to say, enough? When will we be able to prevail on the US government to end this vile "friendship" with Israel?

To the grieving family of this martyred woman- yes, martyred, for what other word can we use?- go the sympathies and condolences of all who work in support of the liberation of her people. The struggle continues.

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john287 replied on

When 91 years old German woman is being prosecuted for the Nazi era crime, after 65 years!!!!These 21st century Israeli soldiers will be prosecuted, charged and punished or like Jews 65 years ago, now Palestinians are also faceless, humanity less sub-humans????

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Zionism Is Not Judaism replied on

Not getting a person severely injured immediately to a hospital shows a total disregard for the standards of civilized society.

Benny and his racist fascist criminal cohorts in the regime will have much to answer for at their trials.

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Zionism Is Not Judaism replied on

From the video shown, it would appear that more concern would have been shown if someone had shot a dog.

This is something reminiscent of a scene from the Jim Crow South. A deeply disturbed society wouldn't one say?

Time for Zionism to end and the families of the victims of the Pogroms of the 1940's to return home.

No Equality, No Peace.

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Artemis replied on

The IDF lost it a long time ago, but now they behave like savages. How can anyone serve in this 'army'?

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American replied on

I contacted my member of congress and told them to end all military and economic aid to Israel. Please contact your representative and tell them to end all aid and weapons transfers to Israel. Boycott Israeli companies operating in the occupied territories. My thoughts and prayers are with the victims family and friend. God bless her soul.

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raed replied on

boycotting companies in the occupied territory does nothing. we must boycott israeli products. only then will people start to change their government.

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kaveh afrasiabi replied on

There needs to be an independent investigation of what appears to be cold-blooded murder of an innocent Palestinian woman and meanwhile the soldiers who pulled the trigger be placed on administrative leave. The Israeli crimes against Palestinians has just been added another tragic page.

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Daniel replied on

As a Jew, it bothers me to no end that the Israelis have learned nothing from the history of our people. For centuries, we were hounded, attacked and killed, and driven out of country after country. This happened even to the grandparents of current Israeli Jews. And now to see them turn around and perpetuate the exact same injustices on another group of people is nothing short of horrific. This must stop. There must be a just peace and reconciliation.

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tom hall replied on

The Guardian has carried an account of this murder which positions the Israeli military's version as first in importance.

http://www.theguardian.com/wor...

Little is made of the absence of photographic evidence in support of the official story. The current furore is described as a "dispute over circumstances". The article does however reproduce a photo of what appears to be a knife lying on the ground after the shooting, with the helpful explanation that IDF forces have identified it as the one they claim she wielded. The statements of civilian eyewitnesses comprise the second half of the report. Their insistent claims that the young woman presented no threat to the soldiers are in this way positioned as less noteworthy than the army's primary, privileged and defining account. They are cast in the role of someone disputing a dominant narrative, when the editors could have as easily placed their eye-witness statements in the lead paragraphs and left the role of respondent to the killers themselves. Incidentally, as has become policy at the Guardian with respect to all reporting and commentary on Israel/Palestine, no readers' comments are permitted. Ironically, that service is called by the editors, "Comment is Free." This policy was instituted following last year's horrific massacre in Gaza by the IDF. So fierce was the tide of denunciation of Israel in the comment threads at that time, that no article since on the broader subject has been accompanied by comments. Opposition to genocide had become an embarrassment to the paper.

Ali Abunimah

Co-founder of The Electronic Intifada and author of The Battle for Justice in Palestine, now out from Haymarket Books.

Also wrote One Country: A Bold-Proposal to End the Israeli-Palestinian Impasse. Opinions are mine alone.