7thriv

The accounts that have received the most attention came from a taped conversation of Gaza veterans at a pre-military course. The soldiers there told of a sniper killing a woman and her two children walking in a no-go zone and of another case in which an elderly woman was shot dead for approaching a commandeered house.

The army’s advocate general has opened an investigation and has not yet issued a report. But officers familiar with the investigation say that those who spoke of the killing of the mother and her children did not witness it and that it almost certainly did not occur. Warning shots were fired near the family but not at it, the officers said, and a rumor spread among the troops of an improper shooting.

The worst about Israel is always reported as fact. Even Israel does not claim to be perfect. But, the most explosive allegations against her are easily refuted and, frankly, should be seen as dubious to begin with. I specifically wrote that the sniper story was bogus and was comfortable in saying so. Those who believe otherwise - Israel's enemies in the West and the Middle East, the credulous media, and even the fifth columnists within the ranks of the IDF who often help spread such tales - demonstrate their bad faith for the world to see, but the world never seems to catch on.