https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iman_Darweesh_Al_Hams
Killer of 13-year old girl receives compensation, promotion in Israeli Army
Saed Bannoura-IMEMC - Friday, 24 March 2006, 04:55


The killer of 13-year old Iman Al Hams, a girl who was cowering behind a
stone and positively identified as a child before she was shot, and then
was shot multiple times to 'confirm the kill', according to the Israeli
military transcript of the incident, has received 80,000 NIS (about
$15,000) compensation for the 'trouble' of having gone to court.

Iman Al Hamas, a 13-year old Palestinian girl, was shot by more than 23
bullets near the Girit Israeli military military outpost in Rafah, in
October 2004. The soldier who fired at her, and completed the 'confirm
kill' procedure by firing at her dead body, was not only acquitted of all
charges, but recently received a promotion to the rank of major.

The soldier, identified as captain "R", who repeatedly fired at the
child, is a Druze captain in the Israeli army. He did have a trial for
the event, but was acquitted of all charges.

On Thursday February 16, 2006, the Israeli military police internal
investigations revealed that there had been major failures in the
investigation of the killing.

According to a report published by the Israeli online daily Haaretz,
Israeli Military Police Commander Brigadier General Roni Benny recently
appointed two reserve officers to examine the military police's conduct
during the investigation.

The examination conducted by the two officers revealed that the
investigators acted unprofessionally and with negligence. They criticized
the decision not to appoint a special investigation team for the case.
The team was supposed to have been led by higher-ranking and more
experienced officials.

Radio recordings which documented the communication between the soldiers
at the outpost and their leaders revealed that the incident was in fact a
cold-blooded murder.

During Captain "R"'s trial, which ultimately resulted in his
acquittal, the Israeli military prosecution charged Captain "R" of
misusing his arms by emptying his magazine in the dead body of Al Hams,
even after confirming she had been killed.

The prosecution also accused "R" of obstruction of court proceedings
after asking his soldiers to alter testimonies they provided to military
investigators probing the incident. Israeli media sources reported that
Yoav Meni and Elad Eisenberg, the two lawyers representing "R",
managed to outline contradictions in the testimonies of the
"witnesses". The witnesses, soldiers under the command of Captain
"R", said that they lied during interrogation, and lied in the sworn
testimonies that they had supplied to the court in order to oust "R"
from the division.

Captain "R"'s lawyer argued the "confirm kill" of the girl's
death is a known practice used by the Israeli army to "eliminate
threats", which in this case was a terrified, unarmed, crying
Palestinian child.

The 13-year-old school girl was on her way to school when she was killed
on October 5, 2004. Although she is just one of 850 children killed by
the Israeli army since the start of the current stage of conflict in 2000,
her death became one of the few that was widely publicized, due to the
leak of a tape of the incident. The following is a transcription of the
radio transmission between troops and their commander:


"we identified an Arab female 100m from the gate of the outpost"

"what did you see?"

"Root, we saw one on "two legs" 100m away from the post."

"Sfard, can you see her?"

"positive, a little girl running, the target is moving to the east."

"define the position."

"north of Morshah"

"position not correct"

"she is now behind the digger, she is dying of fear, shots passed few
centimeters from her."

"they are shooting at her; our soldiers are 70m away from her."

"I believe one of our posts 'brought her down'"

"what? Did you see that she was hit? did she fell down?"

"yes, and she is not moving."

"received."

"I and Jefro are moving forward to confirm the killing, cover for us.
The situation is as follows: we conducted orders and fired at her, she
wears jeans, a T-shirt, and a head cover. Killing confirmed."

"received"

"any thing that moves in this domain, even if a three year old should be
killed."

After the killing of Al-Hams, the lawyers of 'R' Elad Eisenberg and Yoav
Meni tried to focus of the system itself and the rules of engagement used
by the army.

"Instead of putting ‘R' on trial, an entire system was on trial. This
system allows the army to conduct lethal action in Gaza leading to the
death of dozens of innocent civilians", the Israeli newspaper Haaretz
reported.

Instead, the officer was acquitted, rewarded, promoted and continues to
serve in the Palestinian Occupied Territories.

22% of the Palestinians killed by the Israeli army during Al Aqsa Intifada
which erupted late 2000 were children. They were killed in the streets,
schools, and at home during military shelling to Palestinian houses.

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society reported that the number of
Palestinians killed by the Israeli army since the beginning of the
Intifada until February 13, 2006 is 3,808 residents, and 29,456 were
injured.

The number of children killed by Israeli military fire since the beginning
of the Intifada is 851, including 160 who were under the age of 12.

Apparently, the so-called 'failure to investigate' cases of Palestinian
civilians killed by the Israeli military seems to be a recurrent issue.

The case of Al-Hams did not carry any criminal proceedings because the
investigators themselves were involved in the shooting which lead to the
death of the girl. Now, the army says that there was a failure in probing
the 'confirm kill' case that claimed the life of a 13-year old Palestinian
child.

Apparently, the lives of the Palestinians, including children, are not
even worth a thorough investigation by the state of Israel.