| Testimonial Falsehood: No Militant Activity or Militants Killed in Fakhura, CAMERA, 2/10/09 |
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TESTIMONY: In the June 28 morning session of the Mission's public hearings, Hamas official Muhammed Abu Askar claimed:
REPORT: Paragraph 652 suggests that the findings were based in part on three separate interviews with Muhammed Abu Askar. Although Abu Askar acknowledges in his testimony his invovlement with Hamas, the Goldstone Report does not mention this relevant information. Indeed, despite false assertions by Abu Askar during his testimony (see below), which the Report ignores, and despite his work with Hamas, which the Report ignores, and despite the fact that his son was a Hamas fighter (see below), which the Report ignores, the Goldstone Report casts no doubt whatsoever on Abu Askar's testimony. (It does, though, insist that "the credibility of Israel's position" — that there were militants firing from the area — is "damaged" due to Israeli "inconsistencies and factual inaccuracies." See also the section on double standards below.)
FACT: As noted above, Palestinian eyewitnesses who spoke with the New York Times, Associated Press, and the UK's Channel 4 belie Abu Askar's claim that there was no firing from the Fakhura area. (The Goldstone Report cites the AP and Channel 4 piece, but it ignores the New York Times stories.)
Abu Askar's claim that "from the casualties we did not find any combatant" or "any military person" further erodes his credibility. According to Col. (res.) Jonathan D. Halevi, eight Palestinian fatalities from the Fakhura incident, including Mohammed Abu Askar's son Khaled, were operatives of terror groups. Citing Palestinian sources, he lists:
Khaled Mohammed Fuoad Abu Askar, Bilal Hamzah Obeid, Raafat Abu Askar, Osama Jemal Obeid, Iyad Jaber Aman, Abd Muhammad Abd Qudas, and Atia Hassan al-Madhoun and Ziyad al-Madhoun. (Recall that Khaled Askar was also named by Palestinian witness Ibrahim Amen, who spoke with the New York Times, as a Hamas fighter.)
Moreover, a report by the International Crisis Group, one that was cited in the Goldstone Report, points out that Palestinians it interviewed said at least one of the casualties was a member of Hamas's Qassam Brigades (Gaza's Unfinished Business, page 1, footnote 8).
Although the Commission acknowledges that Khaled Abu Askar was killed in the Fakhura incident, it did not point out that he, or any of the others killed in the incident or listed above, was a combatant. To the contrary, the Report seems to go to great lengths to suggest that no combatants were killed in the incident.
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