Israeli soldier shot American activist in face with tear gas can

Israeli soldier shot American activist in face with tear gas can

www.prisonplanet.com

An American activist who participated in a Palestinian ’solidarity’ demonstration is in serious condition Saturday after an Israeli soldier shot him in the face with a high-velocity tear gas canister. He underwent surgery early Saturday.

Even as the rescue operation commenced, more tear gas rained down on the demonstrators as soldiers allegedly delayed ambulance access.
“Tristan was shot by the new tear-gas canisters that can be shot up to 500 meters,” said Teah Lunqvist with the International Solidarity Movement, according to California’s IndyBay. “I ran over as I saw someone had been shot, while the Israeli forces continued to fire tear-gas at us. When an ambulance came, the Israeli soldiers refused to allow the ambulance through the checkpoint just outside the village. After 5 minutes of arguing with the soldiers, the ambulance passed.”

(visit the link for the full news article)

No doubt there will be NO condemnation of Israeli actions regarding this.

There may be a case for people saying he shouldn't have been there, but regardless of that, Israeli soldiers blocked and delayed medical personnel from going to the scene - and may have lost them critical time.

The right to protest is deeply ingrained in western nations, but it seems that again, the Israeli armed forces have used disproportionate violence.

Tear gas is supposed to be used to disperse people - cannisters should not be aimed at peoples heads, especially when they have a range of 500 metres and the protester is only 60 metres away.

www.prisonplanet.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Do you know how tear gas grenades are shot? One has to be a super man to snipe a tear gas granade into someone's head. They are launched in general direction. Nobody was aiming for nobody's head. So instead of true report - like person not doing anything violent was wounded from tear gas grenade hiting him in his head and medical help was denied for x time - something as stupid as 'Israeli soldier shot .....'.
It is just to grab a headline.
example of tear gas grenade being fired;
2.bp.blogspot.com...
Go and aim ith that to someone's head, on purpose.

when will israel learn that violence is not the way

You can't make sense or place blame on this issue.
They are both wrong...I mean come on,they are fighting over a piece of dirt and a meaningless piece of clothe.
Regardless of history...lets quit living in the past.

reply to post by ZeroKnowledge


I know exactly how they are shot - I also know that it fairly easy to aim them at a distance of 60 metres.

And then to try and deny the person who was shot medical help?

There is a video linked in the report - but it contains graphic images.

Originally posted by budski No doubt there will be NO condemnation of Israeli actions regarding this.

C'mon now...it's not like they're out there running over activists with bulldozers!!

What?

Oh, never mind, then. Nothing to see here...go on about your business...

reply to post by ZeroKnowledge


I fully agree, gas gun are not know for they're accuracy. But to aim a gas gun at anyone and hit them at 60 meters? Doubtful, most likely he just happened to be standing at the wrong place at the wrong time. With a gas gun you fire in the general direction you want to lay the gas down, but to actually pick someone out an hit them, no.

sorry but what has an american to do with internal afairs in a foreign nation? Or do you want Iranians or Germans mangling in to the afairs of the USA .. like Germans protesting at US border crossings with mexico.
those activist have no reasons being there and so own fault .. And why support hamas and other radical people who are murdering people in Israel with bombs and rockets. I have nothing with Israel but its the only nation in the middle east which is technological superieour and where people are not being killed for being different like gay or a woman. If there is one nation were I like to go if I have to make a choice it would be Israel and not Iran , SA , Egypt , syria , Iraq , Turkye ect I know I will be safe walking in Israel and in those other countries its not safe for a western to walk freely.

reply to post by MarkLuitzen


If it were not for many of these international observers and peace activists, much of what happens to the Palestinians would never be told.
What of all the recent video of Palestinian farmers, and monitors in high viz vests, being sniped at by Israeli soldiers? Is that acceptable behaviour?
Perhaps we should all just turn a blind eye and ignore it? Why is it then that we have the ICC and the UN condemning others for similar actions yet Israel gets away with it?

Hopefully this and other incidents will find their way into more and more homes and show many people just what the Palestinian people have to endure.

reply to post by MarkLuitzen


Its unfortunate that someone got hurt, but you're right. He put himself into a volatile situation and sometimes, that turns out for the worse. Its a risk a person takes when venturing into a region known for such clashes.

So an accident happens at a protest and Israel "used disproportionate violence."

But Palestinians intentionally murder two police officers, and thats just fine!
www.abovetopsecret.com...

I agree with the group that said that him hitting the person in the face was just bad luck.

If you can accuratly shoot someone in the head, heck just hit them, at 60 meters on purpose, then you desrve a spot in the olympics.

I doubt he even knew he hurt someone.

Also

Why are people shocked when someone who protests gets hurt?

How may decades have people protested and how many decades have they been getting hurt? Each time it happens its like we can't believe what the world has come to.

This person went to another country to protest in a matter that did not concern them. That person got hurt and hopefully learned a lesson.

[edit on 16-3-2009 by jd140]

Protesting comes with inherent dangers, especially when you are protesting an entrenched bias. I don't expect it is impossible that this was 'aimed' or not. I do expect that forcibly dispersing a protest is to be done with a conscious effort to do no harm to the protesters - who pose no threat, and offer no danger to the man 60-meters away with what barely falls short of 'combat' gear.

No, nothing will be said in the MSM about this, unless someone can make good money out of it.

Originally posted by jd140
I agree with the group that said that him hitting the person in the face was just bad luck.

If you can accuratly shoot someone in the head, heck just hit them, at 60 meters on purpose, then you desrve a spot in the olympics.

I doubt he even knew he hurt someone.

[edit on 16-3-2009 by jd140]

Well, then they tried to deny the victim medical care afterward.


Everyone knows, had a Palestinian soldier done the same thing, it would have been an act of war.

reply to post by drwizardphd



Like I said. I doubt they knew someone had gotten hurt. If I am on riot control and I am chunking tear gas into a crowd, I am doing that to get the crowd to leave. I am not going to allow an ambulance in there if I do not know if a person is hurt without checking it first.

There is your 5 minutes it took to let them through. They searched the ambulance.

I'm sure you are going to have some arguement against them searching the ambulance before letting it into a group of protesters.

reply to post by budski

The right to protest is deeply ingrained in western nations, but it seems that again, the Israeli armed forces have used disproportionate violence.

Israel is not a western nation.

No westerner has a right to just go to another country and start protesting without due concern over local laws or consideration over the situation.

What happened is regrettable, but not surprising. You can't voluntarily go into what is, for all intents and purposes, a war zone and then complain about taking flak from an "enemy" soldier.

Originally posted by 44soulslayer
reply to post by budski

 

The right to protest is deeply ingrained in western nations, but it seems that again, the Israeli armed forces have used disproportionate violence.

Israel is not a western nation.

No westerner has a right to just go to another country and start protesting without due concern over local laws or consideration over the situation.

What happened is regrettable, but not surprising. You can't voluntarily go into what is, for all intents and purposes, a war zone and then complain about taking flak from an "enemy" soldier.

This is exactly the reason why I am constantly surprised when so many people scream and pound their fists when journalists on the battlefield get killed or abducted. You know, the situation with Daniel Pearl was really, really sad, but in all fairness he did put himself in a hotzone knowing full well the danger. And he died a brutal death. It's not America over there. You don't have rights over there. And that gunfire going off isn't blanks or rubber bullets. Those explosions aren't for effect. That's the sound of war. Real, live war.

reply to post by 44soulslayer


Actuall, to all intents and purposes Israel is pretty much a western nation.

They buy most of their goods and services from the west as well as their weapons systems.

Their system of government is western in nature, and they are very heavily influenced by western media and culture in the form of music, TV, sports etc etc

Also, you seem to be forgetting that the protester was from the US - as are many others who regularly protest in the region.



[edit on 16/3/2009 by budski]

Originally posted by ZeroKnowledge
Do you know how tear gas grenades are shot? One has to be a super man to snipe a tear gas granade into someone's head. They are launched in general direction. Nobody was aiming for nobody's head. So instead of true report - like person not doing anything violent was wounded from tear gas grenade hiting him in his head and medical help was denied for x time - something as stupid as 'Israeli soldier shot .....'.
It is just to grab a headline.
example of tear gas grenade being fired;
2.bp.blogspot.com...
Go and aim ith that to someone's head, on purpose.

I agree, it seems pretty hard to purposefully kill someone with a gas grenade. But even if, why care mentioning it? Palestinians (and to a lesser extent Israelis) are being killed on a daily basis. Am I supposed to feel more sorry or be more angry?