The administrators of a genocide are investigating the murder, by their own tanks, of a little girl. Oh, really…wonder what they’ll find. Enough. The ICC must act or go home in shame. Prosecute this state, all of its leaders. Begin the investigations into all of the brutality in Gaza and the Palestinian region by the military and civilian “settlers.” Demand that all Israelis surrender their weapons immediately. Open the prisons. Impose sanctions. Freeze assets. Open the ports of Gaza and deliver the massive aid—funded by Israel, the US, the UK—that the people of Palestine require. Seek Justice, not revenge.
For heaven’s sake do not lose sight of the fact that it is an ongoing genocide. Too many times references are made in this article suggestive of a past tense - it has not stopped!
Hind Rajab, like Emmett Till, and too many other children, have tipped the scales. This was unforgivable, and thankfully, unforgettable. No decent human being can ignore her sweet smile and her last words.
This is not at all surprising, but it is still shocking. In a sane world Netenyahu and all those responsible would face justice at the ICC but, I fear that this will never happen while Israel is allowed to plow millions of dollars into the pockets of corrupt western politicians. Keep fighting the good fight Owen. Kia kaha
Owen, I had intended to leave only a short response to your article. Instead, the more I read, the more outraged I became. I have written previously about Hind Rajab, but the evidence you bring together makes the enormity of what happened even more difficult to comprehend: seven members of one family trapped in that car, five of them children; Israeli forces firing at close range; a terrified five-year-old left alive among the bodies of her family; and then an ambulance, whose rescue mission had been coordinated with the Israeli authorities, attacked as two paramedics attempted to reach her.
The United Nations Commission of Inquiry has already concluded that the killing of Hind and her family and the attack on the ambulance amounted to war crimes. This cannot be dismissed as another tragic incident lost in the "fog of war". Nor can it be separated from the wider destruction of Palestinian civilian life under Benjamin Netanyahu's government. Children have been killed in their thousands, families destroyed, homes and hospitals reduced to rubble, people repeatedly displaced, and humanitarian relief obstructed while the assault continues.
We must stop treating each atrocity as though it exists in isolation. Taken together, they reveal the murderous reality being imposed upon Palestinian civilians and the almost complete absence of meaningful accountability for those responsible.
Western governments cannot continue supplying weapons, diplomatic protection and political legitimacy while claiming merely to be concerned about civilian casualties. That is not neutrality. Where governments enable the continuation of conduct they know is producing catastrophic civilian suffering, questions of complicity cannot simply be brushed aside.
Nor should Western media continue obscuring that reality through euphemism, false balance and an endless reluctance to name responsibility even when the evidence has become overwhelming. Palestinians should not have to prove their humanity one dead child at a time before the world is prepared to listen.
What began as a short comment acknowledging your powerful essay has therefore become a much longer response, which I will publish on my Substack. Your article compelled me to return to Hind's story and to confront again not only the crime itself, but the denial, impunity and political protection that have followed it.
I believe we have reached a point where silence, equivocation and carefully sanitised language are no longer defensible. We must unite in condemning these atrocities, demand genuine accountability for war crimes, challenge the governments enabling them, and insist that Palestinian lives are afforded the same value, protection and dignity as every other human life.
The whole of the Gaza Strip is an exceptional war crime scene- the crimes continue , 10 Palestinians killed today, yesterday 7 were targeted , including a child, in a cafe , a tent, no threat but usefully labeled terrorists , Hamas operatives, so no further action required. And no headlines in MSM in UK about these incidents. Normalised daily slaughter.
That is how Israel games its killings - knowing majority of crimes , and there are hundreds and hundreds, barely cause a ripple.
Israel was caught in blatant bare-faced lies about the killing of Hind Rajab, and the medical convoy. Until footage appeared stories changed , more than once. Israel is offering up sham investigation of most memorable incidents, those they cannot bury, erase or deny, to prevent international courts from investigating them .
Offering up defense of self- referral , self investigation to self- present Israel as 'normal democracy'with a functioning impartial legal system. Message is clear- fuck off to international criminal court , ICJ and all external independent investigations.
We all know how this will pan out. Israel does not prosecute their own military. Ever. What is worse this sham will be swallowed by complicit participants, who failed to prevent Genocide.
Why is Israel investigating the murder of Hind Rajab, her family and the ambulance workers seeking to reach them, now?
Essentially because most international legal remedies can only progress IF the local state fails to investigate allegations.
Israel will always delay as long as possible, for ever if it can, the initiation of any investigation into human rights abuses against Palestinians.
But when it fears international accountability in one form of another is nearing, it can open an investigation. It can take years to reach any conclusions. It may conclude that no crime occurred, or that it was minor. Any penalties may be light or cancelled shortly afterwards. Like prison to house arrest to freedom in a short while, or a small period of suspension of army pay.
A large part of Israeli society will not accept any punishment of soldiers no matter how dreadful their crimes against Palestinians.
It's like expecting the German Nazis to investigate Auschwitz-Birkenau and punish anyone while it is still operating.
It would be a real surprise if the IDF ever told the truth about anything. It would be another surprise it the rest of the world could/would actually hold them accountable for their atrocites and jail them. We can keep hoping.
We have been witnessing the defacto immunity of the US empire to international law and indeed to basic standards of humanity. We are now witnessing its roll out to populations within the empire itself as it seeks to quash any dissent towards its own evil acts and those of its west Asian proxy. The parasite class is happy to see us all dead within a few decades to protect the ultra corrupt corporate imperialism which feeds it. Data centre proliferation is about controlling us and controlling the narrative, both absolutely with no allowance of the slightest deviation. This cannot be voted out of existence and our survival, and that of all complex life forms depends upon us stopping them. I wonder if enough people will realise in time?
Owen, thanks a lot for your forensic account of Hind Rajab’s killing. It compelled me to revisit the evidence, the changing Israeli explanations and the wider question of accountability, and to write this essay.
It is, in many respects, a response to and expansion of the issues you raised in your article, Israel’s Hind Rajab ‘investigation’ is a sham.
Your article forced me to look again at a case I thought I already understood, and the deeper I went, the more disturbing the wider architecture of impunity became.
Thank you for all these details revealing the cold blooded, brazen slaughter of innocents by Israeli forces. Somewhere now there is a record. We should all send copies to our senators and congress representatives as they vote to bind our U.S. military to serve these criminals .
The administrators of a genocide are investigating the murder, by their own tanks, of a little girl. Oh, really…wonder what they’ll find. Enough. The ICC must act or go home in shame. Prosecute this state, all of its leaders. Begin the investigations into all of the brutality in Gaza and the Palestinian region by the military and civilian “settlers.” Demand that all Israelis surrender their weapons immediately. Open the prisons. Impose sanctions. Freeze assets. Open the ports of Gaza and deliver the massive aid—funded by Israel, the US, the UK—that the people of Palestine require. Seek Justice, not revenge.
Of course it is… there will be no real justice until they’re in the dock at the ICC…
Which can't happen while they investigate locally.
For heaven’s sake do not lose sight of the fact that it is an ongoing genocide. Too many times references are made in this article suggestive of a past tense - it has not stopped!
Hind Rajab, like Emmett Till, and too many other children, have tipped the scales. This was unforgivable, and thankfully, unforgettable. No decent human being can ignore her sweet smile and her last words.
This is not at all surprising, but it is still shocking. In a sane world Netenyahu and all those responsible would face justice at the ICC but, I fear that this will never happen while Israel is allowed to plow millions of dollars into the pockets of corrupt western politicians. Keep fighting the good fight Owen. Kia kaha
Owen, I had intended to leave only a short response to your article. Instead, the more I read, the more outraged I became. I have written previously about Hind Rajab, but the evidence you bring together makes the enormity of what happened even more difficult to comprehend: seven members of one family trapped in that car, five of them children; Israeli forces firing at close range; a terrified five-year-old left alive among the bodies of her family; and then an ambulance, whose rescue mission had been coordinated with the Israeli authorities, attacked as two paramedics attempted to reach her.
The United Nations Commission of Inquiry has already concluded that the killing of Hind and her family and the attack on the ambulance amounted to war crimes. This cannot be dismissed as another tragic incident lost in the "fog of war". Nor can it be separated from the wider destruction of Palestinian civilian life under Benjamin Netanyahu's government. Children have been killed in their thousands, families destroyed, homes and hospitals reduced to rubble, people repeatedly displaced, and humanitarian relief obstructed while the assault continues.
We must stop treating each atrocity as though it exists in isolation. Taken together, they reveal the murderous reality being imposed upon Palestinian civilians and the almost complete absence of meaningful accountability for those responsible.
Western governments cannot continue supplying weapons, diplomatic protection and political legitimacy while claiming merely to be concerned about civilian casualties. That is not neutrality. Where governments enable the continuation of conduct they know is producing catastrophic civilian suffering, questions of complicity cannot simply be brushed aside.
Nor should Western media continue obscuring that reality through euphemism, false balance and an endless reluctance to name responsibility even when the evidence has become overwhelming. Palestinians should not have to prove their humanity one dead child at a time before the world is prepared to listen.
What began as a short comment acknowledging your powerful essay has therefore become a much longer response, which I will publish on my Substack. Your article compelled me to return to Hind's story and to confront again not only the crime itself, but the denial, impunity and political protection that have followed it.
I believe we have reached a point where silence, equivocation and carefully sanitised language are no longer defensible. We must unite in condemning these atrocities, demand genuine accountability for war crimes, challenge the governments enabling them, and insist that Palestinian lives are afforded the same value, protection and dignity as every other human life.
This cannot continue.
The whole of the Gaza Strip is an exceptional war crime scene- the crimes continue , 10 Palestinians killed today, yesterday 7 were targeted , including a child, in a cafe , a tent, no threat but usefully labeled terrorists , Hamas operatives, so no further action required. And no headlines in MSM in UK about these incidents. Normalised daily slaughter.
That is how Israel games its killings - knowing majority of crimes , and there are hundreds and hundreds, barely cause a ripple.
Israel was caught in blatant bare-faced lies about the killing of Hind Rajab, and the medical convoy. Until footage appeared stories changed , more than once. Israel is offering up sham investigation of most memorable incidents, those they cannot bury, erase or deny, to prevent international courts from investigating them .
Offering up defense of self- referral , self investigation to self- present Israel as 'normal democracy'with a functioning impartial legal system. Message is clear- fuck off to international criminal court , ICJ and all external independent investigations.
We all know how this will pan out. Israel does not prosecute their own military. Ever. What is worse this sham will be swallowed by complicit participants, who failed to prevent Genocide.
Zionists lie like they breathe.
Admitting is one thing but it won't bring them back!! Also what penalty will they get? None!!!
Why is Israel investigating the murder of Hind Rajab, her family and the ambulance workers seeking to reach them, now?
Essentially because most international legal remedies can only progress IF the local state fails to investigate allegations.
Israel will always delay as long as possible, for ever if it can, the initiation of any investigation into human rights abuses against Palestinians.
But when it fears international accountability in one form of another is nearing, it can open an investigation. It can take years to reach any conclusions. It may conclude that no crime occurred, or that it was minor. Any penalties may be light or cancelled shortly afterwards. Like prison to house arrest to freedom in a short while, or a small period of suspension of army pay.
A large part of Israeli society will not accept any punishment of soldiers no matter how dreadful their crimes against Palestinians.
It's like expecting the German Nazis to investigate Auschwitz-Birkenau and punish anyone while it is still operating.
Of course it's a sham. It has been clear for years that the IDF target civilians and children for fun, not security.
It would be a real surprise if the IDF ever told the truth about anything. It would be another surprise it the rest of the world could/would actually hold them accountable for their atrocites and jail them. We can keep hoping.
We have been witnessing the defacto immunity of the US empire to international law and indeed to basic standards of humanity. We are now witnessing its roll out to populations within the empire itself as it seeks to quash any dissent towards its own evil acts and those of its west Asian proxy. The parasite class is happy to see us all dead within a few decades to protect the ultra corrupt corporate imperialism which feeds it. Data centre proliferation is about controlling us and controlling the narrative, both absolutely with no allowance of the slightest deviation. This cannot be voted out of existence and our survival, and that of all complex life forms depends upon us stopping them. I wonder if enough people will realise in time?
Owen, thanks a lot for your forensic account of Hind Rajab’s killing. It compelled me to revisit the evidence, the changing Israeli explanations and the wider question of accountability, and to write this essay.
It is, in many respects, a response to and expansion of the issues you raised in your article, Israel’s Hind Rajab ‘investigation’ is a sham.
My piece is here:
https://terrymalone.substack.com/p/hind-rajab-and-the-architecture-of?r=4t1ow
Your article forced me to look again at a case I thought I already understood, and the deeper I went, the more disturbing the wider architecture of impunity became.
Great work!
Thank you for all these details revealing the cold blooded, brazen slaughter of innocents by Israeli forces. Somewhere now there is a record. We should all send copies to our senators and congress representatives as they vote to bind our U.S. military to serve these criminals .