It is, by many accounts, the action that caused the most recent war in Gaza: the kidnapping and murder of three young Israelis in the West Bank in June. The Israeli government unequivocally declared that Hamas was responsible, which led to a massive crackdown on that group’s members in the West Bank and the eventual attacks on the Gaza Strip, killing over 2,000 Palestinians.
The Israeli government has still not produced evidence linking the murders to Hamas. And now comes the release of legal documents related to the indictment against the only suspect in custody, Hussam Qawasmeh. Those documents do not support the Israeli government’s accusations; in fact, they contradict them. But the New York Times‘ report on the subject (9/4/14) does a good job of muddying up this reality.
Under the headline “New Light on Hamas Role in Killings of Teenagers That Fueled Gaza War,” Isabel Kershner writes that
the documents, related to an investigation and indictment of the man suspected of leading the kidnappers, provide no evidence that the top leaders of Hamas directed or had prior knowledge of the plot to abduct the three Israeli youths.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel and his subordinates asserted as fact that the kidnapping and killing of the three youths was orchestrated by Hamas, which Israel regards as a terrorist group committed to its destruction. He responded by ordering a severe crackdown on Hamas suspects and institutions in the West Bank.
Though the documents released on Thursday do not necessarily undercut the Israeli government’s assertions, they present a more nuanced picture.
How does that final sentence logically follow from the previous two? If the documents do not support Netanyahu’s claims, then they would most certainly undercut his assertions.
So what, then, is the “more nuanced picture”? Kershner writes that the legal documents “depict the plot as more of a family affair, a local initiative organized and carried out by members of a clan in Hebron.” That was what many analysts had been saying all along, offering a very different interpretation than the one being put forth by Israel–though it was the Israeli line, not the one offered by independent analysts, that made its way into US media (FAIR Blog, 7/2/14, 7/28/14). Kershner speaks to one Israeli source who, she reports, still thinks it “was fair to blame Hamas, as an organization, for the kidnappings.” The source added that “it is still possible that we will find evidence of a direct connection.”
The Times headline writer is correct that these documents shed “new light” on this tragedy. But it’s hard to see how light is shed on a “Hamas role,” since it’s still not clear there is any such role at all. These new revelations do not provide any support for the Israeli government’s claims about Hamas’ responsibility, instead depicting it “as more of a family affair.” The implication is that the horrific bloodshed of the Israeli assault on Gaza followed from a groundless charge. But Kershner’s article works hard to de-emphasize that conclusion.
Doug Latimer
Placing the inconvenient facts in a convenient package
“Fit to print”
Eli
http://www.npr.org/2014/08/22/342318367/hamas-finally-admits-to-kidnapping-and-killing-israeli-teens
Hamas as admitted carrying out the kidnapping and killing.
Linann Singh
It’s just what bush did when he claimed WMD and started a war. Bush wanted oil and government contracts, Israel wants real estate.
Bob Walton
“The Israeli government has still not produced evidence linking the murders to Hamas.” ???? Peter needs to read more than just the NYT. http://nymag.com/daily/i ntelligencer/2014/09/hamass-role-in-israeli-kidnapping-remains-murky.html
Michael
@Eli,
What you link is a “confession” about kidnapping people to trade them for prisoners. In the real case the vicitims were murdered immediately and no demands were issued.
C in VT
Wait a sec … so this senior Hamas leader that claimed responsibility for the teen kidnappings is false, even though he admitted to them? I’m confused.
Hamas claims responsibility for three Israeli teens’ kidnapping and murder
Senior Hamas member makes comments at Muslim scholars’ conference in Turkey.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/1.611676
Hamas Claims Responsibility for Kidnapping, Murder of Israeli Teenagers in June
http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2014/08/21/hamas_israeli_teen_kidnapping_militant_group_claims_responsibility.html
padremellyrn
“”The Israeli government has still not produced evidence linking the murders to Hamas.” ???? Peter needs to read more than just the NYT””
Really? Your own source contridicts you. Maybe Right Wing Trolls should learn to read, so they can actually understand what they are spewing.
From your ‘source’:
“”Hussam Qawasmeh, the alleged mastermind of the plot to kidnap three Israeli teenagers from the West Bank in June, was indicted on Thursday, and while newly released court documents shed more light on the murders, it’s still unclear if top Hamas leaders were aware of the plan. The Israeli government blamed Hamas after the three teens — Eyal Yifrach, 19, Gilad Shaar, 16, Naftali Frankel, 16 — were found dead, which led to the 50-day war this summer. According to the New York Times, the documents allege that the kidnapping was planned and executed by Qawasmeh and other members of a Hamas-affiliated clan in Hebron, but provide no evidence of a direct connection to the organization’s top leaders.””
That is they provided no evidence of a direct connection and your source simply parrots the NYT. So maybe you should try and troll somewhere else, where the people don’t bother to actually read the sources you supply and see what is actually being said.
Your entitled to your own opinions, not your own facts.
Charles
Bob Walton, the following undermines the story you link:
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/21/hamas-kidnapping-three-israeli-teenagers-saleh-al-arouri-qassam-brigades
It says, “Hugh Lovatt, Israel and Palestine coordinator at the European Council on Foreign Relations, said that while al-Arouri was a significant Hamas figure – serving as the group’s most prominent representative in Turkey – the former militant could have an ulterior motive for making his claim.
“Given the timing I would be very suspicious about his claim. I still don’t believe Hamas as an organisation and its upper echelons sanctioned the kidnappings – something that Israeli intelligence also believes,” he said.
Lovatt said that al-Arouri may be trying to claim credit for the actions of others in an attempt to demonstrate his own continued sway in the West Bank and Hamas’s ability to hit Israel after failing to secure significant concessions after six weeks of violence in Gaza.
“A second, more remote possibility, is that al-Arouri is telling the truth and that he has operated on his own initiative – a development with very worrying repercussions as it would imply a serious power struggle and splintering within Hamas,” he said.”
I don’t know if Hamas was/was not responsible for killing the teen. Clearly Israel doesn’t have independent evidence of it or they would have released it. And there are serious doubts about Al-Arouri’s claim.
Dave Wuchinich
FAIR blames the reporter here, but the real blame should be on the editor and publisher. Ms. Kershner probably wrote it right. It would always be interesting to see a reporters’ reports and contrast them with what is published. That information is never available, except when a reporter makes it available as did Charles Moore, the Time magazine reporter under Henry Luce, who got so disgusted with the editing of his Vietnam war reports that he resigned. Where did he go: The New York Times.
the facts
hamas isnt a monolithic organization. the military leadership in gaza is not always in lock-step with the political leadership. the al-qasaam brigade has a mind of its own sometimes, but ultimately hamas follows the same mandate – fight israel.
every dollar hamas gets from iran and qatar is conditional on this. this was shown during the recent conflict when mashaal was ready to accept a cease-fire but mashaal threatened to expel him out of qatar, so the war went on.
in any case, abducting israelis is integral to hamas warfighting doctrine, and hundreds of plots have been foiled over the years. this wasnt some conspiracy against hamas, hamas wanted (and needed) this war.
and the kidnappings didnt spark this war, the rockets did. and the offensive tunnels built into israel negates all of peter’s hysteria and apologies for hamas.
if one knows anything about hamas they would know hamas NEEDED this war and we’re ready for it.
FAIR is becoming a joke. the media situation in gaza and the west bank is a total disgrace.
the facts
also:
“These new revelations do not provide any support for the Israeli government’s claims about Hamas’ responsibility, instead depicting it “as more of a family affair.”
this is what the NYT tries to narrate, but that simply isn’t the case. hamas is very active in the west bank – most recently trying to overthrow the west bank government AND always undermining the moderates there.
there was no conspiracy against hamas.
how can peter make an informed opinion or criticism about the NYT if he has such a shallow and vapid understanding of hamas and its political apparatus?
not really surprising due to the media’s failure to cover palestinian affairs fairly.
in any case, saleh arouri confirmed hamas was behind the kidnapping.
while the global media made hundreds of millions of dollars off pallywood, the real siege – syria’s siege of palestinian refugee camps – has gone totally ignored. guess no money there? and interestingly, hamas too started that conflict, but unlike israel syria cares little for cease-fires humanitarian or otherwise.
Michael Mauer
I offer no claim of knowing what the facts are, beyond what I read in the press.
But this FAIR report mischaracterizes what is in dispute, and unfairly characterizes what the Times reported. There are three related questions regarding those who carried out the kidnapping and murders. Were they (1) just a bunch of people (that is, “a family affair”), (2) local Hamas operatives, acting on their own, or (3) people acting at the direction of the top Hamas leadership.
The NYT reporting is that there’s evidence that the action was carried out by local Hamas operatives, but also that it’s still unproven that the top Hamas leadership directed it (though they indisputably did praise it afterwards: “He went on to describe the kidnapping as a legitimate act of Palestinian resistance to Israeli occupation.”) From the Times story:
“At this stage it appears that this was a local structure with funding from Hamas sources in Gaza,” an Israeli security official with knowledge of the investigation said…” and
“Hamas leaders…have since acknowledged that the perpetrators were Hamas operatives.”
So it’s not really fair to draw from the (unfortunate) use of the phrase “family affair” that the evidence is that perpetrators were not Hamas operatives.
padremellyrn
“”So it’s not really fair to draw from the (unfortunate) use of the phrase “family affair” that the evidence is that perpetrators were not Hamas operatives.””
In which case, since “everything that is done is Hamas’s Fault”, then we should be holding Ex-president Bush responsible for the Actions of The Black Water Security Force, and he should be tried for war crimes resulting from any and all of their actions, regardless of who the individiuals were or where they were committed and how. That should also mean then that Iraq has the right to bomb the U.S. and come over here and start shooting our civilians, because any person from here who commits a crime there, is really our operatives and we sent them to committ such crimes.
Nonetheless one bets that with that logic, Isreal won’t be held accountable for it’s soldiers who did fire on Civilains, did break the cease fire, and who did use the last few mintues of the ‘agreed on’ cease fire to bomb more civilians without relalitations. Two wrongs dont’ make a right, and ever “solider” isn’t always working under the “order of the high command”. Blame Hamas for what they have done, not what you think they could have done.
the facts
no, hamas is hamas, george bush isnt blackwater. you are obviously (like peter) very ignorant of hamas and its military apparatus.
hamas organized and started this conflict with the permission and approval from qatar and iran. israel did hamas the favor of offering 5 consecutive cease-fires and 3 additional humanitarian ones, all violated by hamas
israel even offered a 48 hour window to cease-hostilities which would end the ground invasion, again hamas blew that up as well.
it wasnt until israel killed their commanders did we finally see a change in orientation. you cant negotiate with terrorists.
and no israel does not target civilians, hamas does. hamas has been classifying killed terrorists as civilian and the media just runs with it. god forbid they do their job, or else hamas would simply throw them out.
notice NYT hasnt done a story on ISIS activity in gaza..or hamas training rebels in syria….or qatar’s military relationship with al-qassam….or anything that would undermine the prevailing narratve.
C in VT
Wait a sec … so this senior Hamas leader that claimed responsibility for the teen kidnappings is false, even though he admitted to them? I’m confused.
Hamas claims responsibility for three Israeli teens’ kidnapping and murder
Senior Hamas member makes comments at Muslim scholars’ conference in Turkey.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/1.611676
Hamas Claims Responsibility for Kidnapping, Murder of Israeli Teenagers in June
http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2014/08/21/hamas_israeli_teen_kidnapping_militant_group_claims_responsibility.html
TeeJae
@the facts (LOL, that’s ironic)- You’re new around here. And I noticed you only chose to comment on the one anti-Israel article. So, excuse those of us who question your legitimacy and wonder if you’re just another paid pro-Israel propaganda operative who (mysteriously) tend to come out of the woodwork for these particular articles.
But if you are legit, then you are sorely in need of some unbiased perspective provided by independent sources such as these:
therealnews (dot) com
truth-out (dot) org
consortiumnews (dot) com
There are several others, but each of these has done a significant amount of objective and nuanced coverage on this issue. So, if you have any intellectual honesty at all, you’ll check them out before posting any further comments.
Lewis
Linann Singh
A closer analogy is Libya. I do know weapons started to flow to US-friendly Sunni insurgents in Iraq in 2005 but I’m not sure about before 2003. In Libya we had a diplomat murdered after direct provocation (the Islamaphobic video and the NATO intervention itself) yet it was turned into a caricature in order to rally US weapons exports, over the objections of human rights groups. The Obama administration repeated this strategy this year by promising Israel 3 billion in military aid. Further, while much is said about the killings of US journalists, it’s omitted that US not only killed Libyan journalists for taking the wrong opinion (see Agence Free Press, Associated Press didn’t bother with their deaths), but supports the corrupt and murderous Honduran coup government which treats journalists like a cancer. Israel is high-profile enough to not want to tar its image so instead they banned two major human rights watchdogs from Rafah before shelling apartment complexes.
potshot
Nuance. That’s rich. Thank God for nuances; a word Alexander Cockburn properly abused in his parting broadside. I guess the adjective hasn’t yet been invented for the corruption of corporate journalists and capitalist politicians to cram 8 lies into 12 words. A family affair. Of course it is, and just as joyous and free as the Sly and the Family Stone song. Mm huh. Just as dreamy and smacks of the same unreality. They’re pros, the corporate stenographers, you have to give them that. “The source added that ‘it is still possible that we will find evidence of a direct connection.'” No doubt in our dream, right after we scrounge up the Iraqi WMD and Iran’s perhaps ¾ of a nuclear weapon to Israel’s 400. Let’s remember Noam Chomsky’s principle of universality. Of course “Kershner’s article works hard to de-emphasize that conclusion.” That’s what she’s paid for; who knows in this crazy upside down world, probably by AIPAC.
Hear Hear padremellyrn! And Travis Smiley. You’re entitled to your own opinions, but not your own set of facts.
The difference between Palestine, Hamas fighting, militarily, which is to say with firecrackers against Israel’s US-supplied F-16s is that Palestine is one of the few countries whose fight is sanctioned by international law. True that’s a dead letter since Georgie the Stupider if it wasn’t before him. So what’s left?
the facts
firecrackers, that’s amusing. didnt realize firecrackers could be launched 150 kilometers with 100lb warheads that can blow up buildings and people.
not to mention 800 of these firecrackers fell short in gaza….hundreds were killed. 10 children were killed by hamas firecrackers on june 28th.
hamas fires mortars, AGM missiles, wired-guided anti-tank missiles, and recoilless rifles in crowded areas, schools, hospitals, residential areas.
they detonate ieds in civilian areas. they do not wear uniforms, they use children as combatants, they store supermassive explosives in protected areas, they exploit civilian status for offensive purposes. islamic jihad members use ambulances to shuffle fighters for example.
hamas organized and directed this conflict under a hospital.
hamas executed over 120 palestinians during the conflict. violated every humanitarian cease-fire and mortared field hospitals israel built for palestinians.
israel f16s lol. israel gave islamic jihad and hamas a 5 day heads up, arranged humanitarian cease-fires, put its ground forces at tremendous risk.
israel can hit buildings killing no one. palestinians r so pathetic they have to fake casualties and classify killed terrorists as civilian. even corrupt human rights organizations have admitted to this.
im sure chomsky and cockburn r experts in asymmetrical warfare.
im curious what model u feel israel should base its military after. maybe israel should be more like hamas. dont wear uniforms, fire indiscriminately, forget cease-fires…israel should be more like syria since that doesnt seem to bother anti-israeli trolls
Padremellyrn
“im curious what model u feel israel should base its military after. maybe israel should be more like hamas. dont wear uniforms, fire indiscriminately, forget cease-fires…israel should be more like syria since that doesnt seem to bother anti-israeli trolls””
Padremellyrn
Padremellyrn
just now
“im curious what model u feel israel should base its military after. maybe israel should be more like hamas. dont wear uniforms, fire indiscriminately, forget cease-fires…israel should be more like syria since that doesnt seem to bother anti-israeli trolls””
Flubby fingers hitting the Wrong keys – Now lets see, How about stop Lying? How about not knocking down the houses with Civilians in it, and calling it “military attack”, How about not firing weapons at the last second of a cease fire, and then claiming that it was the other side, how about not lying about other countries and their capabilities claiming they have Nuc’s while lying about the fact they have 200 Plus nuclear Warheads in violation of the treaties they signed, how about not ‘barricading’ the ways to peoples home and work places, while simultaneously illegally occupying the territory, The list can on for years, and has, but when people like you cut and paste only the ‘Facts’ they want, then it’s really useless to try and point out the reality.
Once again, find other news sources that are not simply Mono-winged parrots rebleating the “neo-Con” lies.