New Footage Shows Israeli Soldier Killed 7-Month-Old in Cold Blood
New footage obtained by Israeli human rights organisation B’Tselem directly contradicts the Israeli military’s account of the killing of seven-month-old Sam Fahd Abu Haikal in the occupied West Bank last Friday.
We reported on Saturday that Israeli soldiers shot and killed Sam as his family drove through the Tel Rumeida neighbourhood of Hebron. His mother, Daniyah, was shot in the same burst of fire while holding her son in the back seat. His father, Fahed, was shot in the hand. The IDF claimed its soldiers perceived a vehicle accelerating toward them and fired in response.
The footage shows that did not happen, as is now a familiar pattern, the first available footage was enough to unravel a lie spun by the Israeli military.
The video, shared by B’Tselem, shows the Abu Haikal family car slowing to a stop in compliance with the soldier’s command. It was far from the soldier, who also stood on the opposite side of the road, and not in the line of sight of the driver. It posed no danger to him. The soldier fired anyway, striking Sam in the head, the bullet passed through the infant and struck his mother. He was pronounced dead shortly afterward. His mother Daniyah remains in hospital.
A second video captures the moments after. Fahed Abu Haikal is seen holding his son, pressing his hands against the wound in Sam’s head, trying to stop the bleeding. Daniyah, herself injured, sits on the ground beside the car. The two soldiers left the scene without approaching the vehicle or offering any assistance to a critically wounded infant or his mother, crucially, they also did not go in to arrest anyone, as would have been the case if their excuse for the attack was even remotely true.
The IDF has said it is investigating, however, IDF investigations are almost never completed, even when they are, the soldiers are normally cleared of any wrongdoing. As this story has slipped out of the headlines in most of the western press already, we anticipate any talk of investigation will subside rather quickly.
Sam Abu Haikal was seven months old. He was shot in the head by a soldier of a regime that has, in the past two and a half years, killed tens of thousands of Palestinian children with the sustained backing of the international community. The world’s media needs to reckon with what they have backed eventually, they’ll never be forgiven for the countless free passes, but they can at least try position themselves on the side of international law.
Warning, the following footage is gruesome and will be distressing to many of you.
It sure gets easier to hate Israel every day!!