Who’s the Criminal?
Israel fires BBs at protesters:
IDF troops used ammunition equivalent to live bullets against protest?rs at Ni’ilin on Friday, a site where a weekly protest by Palestinians and left-wing activists from Israel and abroad are held against the West Bank security barrier.
The military ordinarily only uses protest-dispersal means such as tear gas canisters and a recently introduced “skunk bomb” which is harmless but exudes a pungent stench.
…
A rioter at Friday’s protest said the military fired ‘tutu bullets’, small metal pellets similar to those fired by BB guns but of a larger caliber (0.22 inches vs. the BB gun pellets’ 0.177 inches). The man said ‘tutu bullets’ have not been used against protesters since May.
While the Palestinians fire something a bit larger:
Just as IDF Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi spoke of the quiet in the South being a testament to the success of Operation Cast Lead, tensions threatened to flare once against on the Gaza front, with Palestinians firing a Kassam rocket into Israel after the IDF killed a suspected terrorist near the border fence.
The rocket landed in an open area in the Sdot Negev region, causing no casualties or damage.
IDF soldiers shot the suspected terrorist dead early Friday morning, thwarting an apparent bomb plot near the Gaza fence.
Who’s the criminal?
According to a press statement issued by left-wing NGO Betselem on July 9th, IDF Judge Advocate General Brig.-Gen. Avihai Mandelblit said in response to a query from the organization that ‘tutu bullets’ are not considered a protest-dispersal means.
Mandelblit told Betselem back in July that the rules for using ‘tutu bullets’ are “restrictive, and parallel to the rules of engagement when using live ammunition.”
Whatever that means, but I think it’s bad.
Look, I’ve been shot by a BB and I’ve smelled skunk. The BB stung like hell, but the pain was gone in seconds. I’d take 50 BBs over a skunk any day.
And I’d take 50 skunks over a missile fired at my family.
So maybe I’m the criminal.