The Israeli Defense Forces have killed at least 750+ civilians in this latest conflict with Hezbollah. Israel says that this is a tragic mistake. Does the IDF have a propensity to murder civilians and mass-murder children? What to make of last week's repeat performance in Qana (see Qana 1996), with over 60 civilians dead, 30 to 40 of whom were children? Below is the transcript of a particularly heinous crime known as the Rafah Schoolgirl Shooting. The atrocity documented here occurred in October of 2004 and provides a clear look at IDF operations and target policy. The commander here was tried by a military tribunal. He was cleared of wrongdoing. Is this is a case of a man being caught carrying out official policy and taking one for the team? Perhaps. Think Lynddie England and the Abu Ghraib torture scandal. Transcript of soldiers in Rafah schoolgirl shooting —————-BEGIN————— SENTRY: We spotted an Arab female about 100 meters below our emplacement, near the light armored vehicle gate. HEADQUARTERS: Observation post "Spain," do you see it? OBSERVATION POST: Affirmative, it's a young girl. She's now running east. HQ: What is her position? OP: She's currently north of the authorized zone. SENTRY: Very inappropriate location. [Gunfire] OP: She's now behind an embankment, 250 meters from the barracks. She keeps running east. The hits are right on her. HQ: Are you talking about a girl under ten? OP: Approximately a ten-year-old girl. HQ: Roger. OP: OP to HQ. HQ: Receiving, over. OP: She's behind the embankment, dying of fear, the hits are right on her, a centimeter from her. SENTRY: Our troops are storming toward her now. They are around 70 meters from her. HQ: I understand that the company commander and his squad are out? SENTRY: Affirmative, with a few more soldiers. OP: Receive. Looks like one of the positions dropped her. HQ: What, did you see the hit? Is she down? OP: She's down. Right now she isn't moving. COMPANY COMMANDER [to HQ]: Me and another soldier are going in. [To the squad] Forward, to confirm the kill! CC [to HQ]: We fired and killed her. She has…wearing pants…jeans and a vest, shirt. Also she had a kaffiyeh on her head. I also confirmed the kill. Over. HQ: Roger. CC [on general communications band]: Any motion, anyone who moves in the zone, even if it's a three-year-old, should be killed. Over. ——————ENDS——————- Her name was Iman al-Hams. This 13 year-old girl was on her way to school when she was shot 17 times by IDF forces. Any army that so coldly and blithely commits child murder should be disbanded and it's officers imprisoned. The current conflict with Hezbollah is one that is spreading and uniting people all over the region. With the deaths at Qana and the continued targeting of civilians, especially children, Israel may have finally overstepped her bounds and it appears that the Palestinians have had enough. They are ready to continue the fight to its end. One way or another, this latest conflict will most likely decide the Israeli - Palestinian question once and for all. ——- Thanks to Harpers Magazine at harpers.org. Translated by Nomi Friedman. Thank you to confirmation source, From Occupied Palestine at fromoccupiedpalestine.org and wikipedia.org (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_Israel-Lebanon_conflict).