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On January 5, 2009, reports came that an Israeli bomb (mortar or drone missile) had hit a building in which almost a hundred members of the Samouni clan had taken shelter, and killed from 20-60 members of the clan. The incident was among the most striking of the conflict and produced numerous detailed narratives of the cruel and arbitrary behavior of the IDF.  The current Wikipedia entry reflects almost entirely the Palestinian narrative. In the aftermath of Operation Cast Lead, the family members gave detailed accounts of the suffering and the incident became a symbol of Palestinian suffering and Israeli cruelty. Jeremy Bowen of the BBC did a Panorama program that gave particular attention to this incident.
In all the local accounts, the behavior of the Israelis seems particularly vindictive because the residents are presented as innocent civilians caught in a battle not of their doing. Â Research on the internet reveals that four members of the Samouni clan were members of Islamic Jihad, and that organization claimed extensive military activity in the Samouni compound on January 5:
In a statement issued on January 5, Palestinian Islamic Jihad said that on the evening of January 4 its fighters had fired an RGP from the Zeitun neighborhood at an Israeli tank and had opened fire at IDF soldiers. At 1:20 a.m. on January 5, a Palestinian Islamic Jihad engineering unit detonated a 50-kg. bomb near an Israeli tank not far from the Al-Tawhid mosque near the house of Wail al-Samouni. At 6:30 a.m., the engineering unit detonated a bomb near an IDF infantry unit operating near the Al-Tawhid mosque in the Zeitun neighborhood.23Â According to another official Palestinian Islamic Jihad statement, one of its operatives was killed in fighting nearby. His name was Muhammad Ibrahim al-Samouni.
Yvonne Green visited the site in late January and reported a large number of contradictions and anomalies in the stories she heard, and she submitted evidence to the Goldstone Commission.
The Goldstone Report (#704-42) presents these incidents as the first in section XII: Deliberate Attacks on Civilian Populations. Â Their discussion of essentially repeated the Palestinian narrative and they address their credibility specifically:
739. The Mission found the witnesses it heard in relation to the shooting of Iyad al-Samouni to be credible and reliable. It has no reason to doubt the veracity of the main elements of their testimony, which is corroborated by the testimony of the PRCS ambulance driver.Â
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The text of the Goldstone Report's specific handling of the al-Samouni incident.
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A. Attacks on the houses of Ateya al-Samouni and Wa’el al-Samouni in Zeytoun, resulting in the death of 23 members of the al-Samouni family
706. To investigate the attacks on the houses of Ateya and Wa’el al-Samouni, which killed 23 members of the extended al-Samouni family, the Mission visited the site of the incidents.[1] It interviewed five members of the al-Samouni family and several of their neighbours on site.[2]
Two members of the extended al-Samouni family, who were eyewitnesses to the incident, Messrs. Wa’el and Saleh al-Samouni, testified at the public hearing in Gaza. The Mission also interviewed PRCS ambulance drivers who went to the area on 4, 7 and 18 January 2009, and obtained copies of PRCS records. The Mission finally reviewed material on this incident submitted to it by TAWTHEQ as well as by NGOs.
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Sternthall, from CAMERA, takes a close look at the available evidence and finds that Amira Hass's work on the Samouni clan tragedy has only a dubious relationship to any reliable story. The parallels with the Goldstone Report on the same incident indicate the close overlap between credulous journalism (at least for Palestinian narratives) and the Goldstone Mission's work.
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Amira Hass, the Samouni Family, and the Pursuit of Truth
Tamar Sternthall, CAMERA
October, 21, 2009
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The International Women=s Media Foundation, which yesterday honored Amira Hass of Ha=aretz for the Lifetime Achievement Award, praised the Israeli journalist for Aher ability to defy boundaries of gender, ethnicity and religion in her pursuit of the truth in her reporting.
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from:
Blocking the Truth of the Gaza War: How the Goldstone Commission Understated the Hamas Threat to Palestinian Civilians
Col. (res.) Jonathan D. Halevi
Statements of Wail and Salah al-Samouni
Wail and Salah al-Samouni described the shelling of Wail's house, where the extended al-Samouni family had sought shelter and where more than 20 people were killed.21Â They told the commission: At about 5:30 a.m. on the morning of January 5 Wail left the house with some other men to bring wood for a fire. As soon as they left the house a helicopter filed a missile at them and then a number of missiles as the house. After the house was hit the wounded proceeded toward Salah a-Din Street and were refused medical attention by the IDF soldiers. Salah claimed that the soldiers fired shots over their heads to frighten them and make them leave more quickly. They said there was no activity of armed Palestinians around the house where the family members had sought shelter. Salah al-Samouni said that "everyone is a farmer, I swear to Allah that everyone is a farmer," and rejected the possibility that they were armed or wanted.
The commission members asked: Can Wail describe the soldiers and identify them according to their voices and uniforms? How did the IDF forces destroy the agricultural land near the house? How large was the agricultural area destroyed by the IDF? Was the witness treated at the Shifa Hospital?
The commission did not ask about the identity of the dead Palestinians and about the possibility that some of them were terrorist operatives. It did not challenge their claim that there were no armed Palestinians in the area, despite reports by both Palestinian terrorist organizations and the IDF about exchanges of fire in the area. In addition, the commission did not press the witness about his claim that the soldiers did not provide medical attention, in contradiction of a statement given by a female member of the family who told the NGO B'tselem that the soldiers had given them medical aid.
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TESTIMONY: In the June 28 afternoon session of the Mission's public hearings, Wa'el el-Samouni testifies that
The Al-Zaytoun area is a pacifist area. It's a farmland area. We didn't have any Islamic Jihad or Qassams or anything. We didn't have any, uh, resistance operators whatsoever. We didn't have any resistance.
REPORT: Paragraph 721 of the report asserts about testimony by the el-Samouni's that "The Mission found the foregoing witnesses to be credible and reliable. It has no reason to doubt their testimony."
FACT: There are many documented cases of militants being killed in armed clashes in the neighborhood. The Palestinian Center for Human Rights, which has understated the number of Palestinian militant casualties, acknowledges a number of examples, as relayed in the excerpts below.
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Case Study 
