By all accounts and videos, the fighting in Jenin was fierce. Constant gunfire is heard. We have video of terrorists firing from a mosque.
But, invariably, even though there were bullets coming from every direction, every civilian killed is blamed on Israel.
Of those killed in Jenin, two were members of terror groups and two were throwing stones at the IDF soldiers who were trapped in the camp after the IED blast that disabled their armored vehicle. Three civilians have died - a 21 year old university student, a 48 year old man and now this 15 year old girl.
While we know Palestinian gunmen fire wildly in all directions, and the IDF is far more professional in targeting and firing, "human rights groups" like PCHR - who aren't on the scene - reflexively blame the IDF for all civilian deaths. The Palestinian Ministry of Health automatically blames every death on Israel.
And the media accepts these unfounded assertions because they don't want to contradict the "narrative."
A spokesperson told Army Radio said that the chances that Israeli forces hit the girl were “low”. It takes time for the IDF to investigate each death, and by the time they do, the media has moved on to the next story.
There is no doubt that Palestinians are injured and killed from Palestinian fire. We see it happen from misfired rockets in Gaza. We see masked gunmen firing without aiming. We see trigger happy militants firing wildly in the air. And Palestinians have a lot more to gain from their own civilian casualties than Israel does.
What needs to change is the assumption that every Palestinian civilian death during firefights is killed by Israel. The IDF makes some mistakes but they are the exception, not the rule.
