The Shooting of Tom Hurndall

"...I want to look up to myself and when I die, I want to smile because of the things I have done, not cry for the things I haven't done." —Tom Hurndall

Thomas Hurndall after being shot in Rafah, Gaza

(SALEM, Ore.) - 'Moving'; the first thought I am left with after watching The Shooting of Tom Hurndall on Hulu last night.

Tom Hurndall -IfAmericansKnew

I am familiar with his story, as I am with Rachel Corrie's; both were humanitarian activists killed by Israeli military forces while rallying to the aid of Palestinian people.

In the case of Tom Hurndall, I understand this tragedy much more clearly now thanks to Simon Block who wrote the film, and also to the gracious family who made sure Tom's story was told.

Tom was from England, he was 23-years old. His story is tragic as any could be and like many brave people before him, Tom died fulfilling the role of a hero in the most genuine, unarguable way; rescuing young children under fire from a sniper in a guard tower who claimed he was being fired at, when it would later be proven that he was only shooting civilians.

On 11 April 2003, Tom Hurndall was shot in the head in the Gaza Strip by an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) sniper, Taysir Hayb.

This is life in Gaza.

In the occupied zones Israel views the period following the second Intifada as a war that has never ended. They shoot people nearly every day.

Almost all Palestinians have laid down their arms, and it has done them little good. Of course the horror for many is that Americans support these acts that stand in stark violation of the UN Declaration of Human Rights, with their tax dollars that are routinely shipped to Israel.

Sincere appreciation to: farhaaan - 'The Murder of Tom Hurndall'

Tom Hurndall's parents did not completely understand his drive to aid people by putting himself at risk. Tom was in Jordan at first trying to get aid to Iraqi refugees whose lives were destroyed by the war that was taking place all around them.

This is when Tom when he first met the team from ISM - the International Solidarity Movement, a group that has been mentioned and covered many times here. In my view they are some of the finest, most selfless people in the world.

Along with groups like Christian Peacemaker Teams, and people like our writer Ken O'Keefe, who is currently in Gaza, ISM volunteers place themselves in harm's way in order to protect Palestinians and others who are oppressed and suffering.

They photograph and document what is taking place and as this story implies, they sometimes pay the full price.

Their commitment to humanity is nearly unparalleled in my opinion, because they receive no acclaim or fanfare from their home countries except for through Salem-News.com and an assortment of pro-humanitarian blogs.

They simply do this work because it is the right thing to do and they want people to live.

Yet almost any article or online video about these humanitarian activists who were killed while rescuing children from an Israeli gunman, or in Rachel's case trying to prevent Palestinian homes from being bulldozed and annexed by the Israeli government- will be met with bitter and cruel comments from Israelis and their supporters.

They either can't or don't discern that there is a serious problem with their soldiers' tactics. These are human beings who truly have no remorse or sorrow for Palestinian people; their cause, their friends and families. Their attitudes reflect cruelty and indifference.

One person at the Hulu site, Arie Pelta, said:

"The moral of the story is: if you go to an active war zone you may be shot. Especially if you volunteer to be a human shield.

There is no morality or justice in war. War is an immoral act which has rules for some and not for others. Look at war in Iraq, thousands of civilians have been killed even by the USA, but we do not see any films about it, because ........?"

Well, without going to any effort, I can think of several US movies that meet that description:

____________________________________

Redacted, which recounts the rape and murder
of a young girl in Iraq by American soldiers.

An increasing number of movies and documentaries are extremely critical of the US-led war in Iraq

The Situation, a gut wrenching look at the Iraq War through the eyes of a journalist that's anything but flattering of the US policy.

War Made Easy, which "reaches into the
Orwellian memory hole to expose a 50-year
pattern of government deception".

Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers, a film that examines the role of US corporate contractors in the war like Halliburton, and;

Green Zone that is centered around the faulty information the US used to wage a war on
innocent people. _____________________________________________________________________

The list goes on, people in the US aren't happy with the war in Iraq; they aren't jumping up and down about it, I know they were, but not every American. It seems fair that each story should have its own place in this world.

From: Rowan Joffe on The Shooting of Thomas Hurndall - The Telegraph

Another Hulu comment from a person named Lethe Taylor. This individual removes humanity (typical) by referring to Tom Hundall as "it" at one point:

"All I can say is if they call what you do 'human shield,' you can expect to be taking on fire. That's what a shield is for, it takes the blows so the person or thing shielded doesn't. No one can say he didn't know what he was in for if that was the title of what he was doing."

So the moral of the story to that person, is to ignore the murder of innocent civilians; to play with the devil, and blame the hero for trying to save a little girl.

This triumphant film is not without an air of victory. Through their diligence, the Hurndall family was finally able to see a real investigation launched by the IDF - Israeli Defence Forces.

The soldier ended up receiving the longest sentence ever handed down to a member of the IDF for the murder of a Palestinian civilian - eight years behind bars.

The Israeli investigators who eventually prosecute the case push for what we perceive to be justice, but then we are confronted with the part of the story that is agonizing.

IDF sniper Taysir Hayb killed Tom Hurndall

Israel has plenty of Arab citizens, whereas a small number of Israeli citizens reside in Palestine.

Jocelyn and Anthony Hurndall Courtesy: Life

I assume the only Jewish people you would meet in any part of Palestine would be either a soldier or a peace activist, probably little in between.

Because a large number of Arab citizens of Israel are poverty stricken, and they also because they live under an apartheid legal system with clearly different laws for Jews and non-Jews, one option they sometimes take is to join the IDF.

The decision to be part of an occupying army that oppresses their fellow Arabs has to be a hard decision to reach.

Nonetheless, the Bedouin Brigade that Tom Hurndall's sniper killer Taysir Hayb belonged to, is indeed an Arab Bedouin Brigade of the IDF.

The obvious question centers around whether or not Israel finally chose to prosecute this soldier only because he was Arab and not Jewish.

Trailer for The Shooting Of Thomas Hurndall - Full movie below.

It is a system designed to fail because all human beings are created equal and to think otherwise, as Israel does, is wrong.

The world's most self-entitled philosophy is indeed Zionism; the notion that Jews are God's chosen people.

While all people have a right to exist, many Israelis believe it is perfectly fine to kill Palestinians because they view them as dogs.

In return there are similar feelings toward Israeli citizens and the hatred just goes on and on.

Even the IDF sniper sergeant Hayb immediately drew the race card, according to the film. I don't have any trouble believing that happened or understanding why it happened.

As much of a thug a Hayb is, he very likely became part of an intense investigation mostly because he is not a Jew.

All we can do is speculate, and I personally conclude that, as in all situations of this nature, there were people with good motivations among those who did not have them.

I think Hayb is a sick man who took lives out of boredom and personal anger. And this Arab who chose to make a living as a soldier shooting his fellow Arabs and others, was quick to pull the race card himself when the heat was turned up and his statements were questioned.

The obvious question is whether or not Israel finally chose to prosecute this soldier and give him a record sentence simply because he was Arab and not Jewish.

I'd like to think it meant more; that the eventual investigation and prosecution of the soldier was the product of the accountability of Israel's military and 'democracy'. But they have apartheid laws and I can only see justice as part of the reasoning and the movie makes clear that the military investigation was opened only because of Tom's father's investigation.

Both parents worked relentlessly to ensure that their son's death was not brushed under the rug.

It is a system designed to fail because all human beings are created equal and to think otherwise, as Israel does, is wrong.

The world's most self-entitled philosophy is indeed Zionism; the notion that Jews are God's chosen people. At face value in some American church on Sunday the whole idea sounds great. Jews return to the homeland, cool.

But it wasn't a 'return' - it was a mass exodus of refugees from Europe, of course connected to the Holocaust. But the Palestinians did not sponsor the Holocaust nor take a single Jewish life during that period, yet they pay and pay.

'The Shooting Of Thomas Hurndall' Cast of Actors Bader Alami ................................... Anis Ziad Backry ..........................Sgt. Taysir Mark Bazeley .......Tom Fitzalan-Howard Emma Choy ...........Australian Reporter Stephen Dillane .........Anthony Hurndall Kerry Fox ....................Jocelyn Hurndall Denise Gough ..........................Michelle Gus Lewis .................................Freddy Doraid Liddawi ....................IDF Soldier Kika Markham .............................Alison Tom McKay ...............................Rueben Matthew McNulty .............Tom Hurndall Jonathan Miller ..................Taysir's C.O Marry Nazzal ..............................Laura

Along with Christian and Muslims, Jewish people always lived in Palestine in small numbers and there were never problems in the early years.

Zionism, the 'return to the homeland' movement, was launched in the late 1800's by Theodor Herzl who had earlier belonged to an anti-Semitic group in Germany: the nationalist student fraternity Albia.

This man of shifting ideologies is the father of modern-day Israel. From the early years, Arabs have been branded a terrorists when they fight Israeli forces. There has been a terrible amount of death over the years and many wars.

But along the way Israel became super fat with military hardware; super precise weaponry and aircraft. This over abundance of military hardware along with illegal tools of war like depleted uranium and white phosphorous, have led to countless war crime allegations, investigations and formal UN reports.

While all people have a right to exist, many Israelis believe it is perfectly fine to kill Palestinians because they view them as dogs.

In return there are similar feelings toward Israeli citizens and the hatred just goes on and on. Israel, like Afghanistan, is a nation state wrapped around a religion. Zionists believe they can steal Arab and because, as it is often stated: "God gave this land to me".

But God didn't grant any man the power to steal, in fact the teachings of God are quite the opposite.

Stealing land over perceived religious doctrine; that isn't how life works in a civilized world, it only happens when religious fanatics are in charge of government and it doesn't matter what religion or country.

In this event it is Israel and the fact that the man who killed Tom is Arab and Muslim proves once again that this isn't about religion from the human activist's side of the fence, it is about life and death, right and wrong, a parent's love for their son. That is what it is about.

All news writers who criticize Israel for any reason run the risk of finding themselves under attack with people claiming that they are anti-Semitic. Our Jewish friends who work for peace quickly find themselves branded as 'self-hating Jews'. We all laugh and joke at the ridiculous desperation of Israelis but it really isn't funny.

Please visit the: Tom Hurndall Foundation

Even the IDF sniper sergeant Hayb immediately drew the race card, according to the film. I don't have any trouble believing that happened, or understanding why it happened.

As much of a thug a Hayb is, he very likely became part of an intense investigation mostly because he is not a Jew.

All we can do is speculate, and I personally conclude that, as in all situations of this nature, there were people with good motivations among those who did not have them.

I think Hayb is a sick man and a product of Israel's mentality which again, suggests that Arabs are less important as human beings and always a threat. It is a coward's philosophy[hy to think you should kill a man because he won't relent to an illegal military occupation.

All considerations aside, how on earth could anyone become so reckless that they shoot at children?

In the film you learn that there are Gaza residents in Rafah whose homes are full of hundreds of bullet holes from Israeli soldiers' rifles.

I know they are part of war, but snipers are people who don't confront their 'enemies'. They just blast their lives to hell through a scope attached in this case, almost certainly to a weapon provided by US taxpayer revenue.

It has merit when there are Nazi's at the other end of the barrel, but not little children.

I have seen reporters simply standing near the sniper towers come under dangerous rifle fire.

Israel's military has a thuggish and barbaric history of overusing force on people who are for the most part defenseless. It apparently doesn't bother them to shoot children, it is terrible programming.

Sophie Hurndall

In the movie, Anthony Hurndall meets a man who lives in this exact situation. Israelis killed his small daughter as she was taking a drink of water.

The next day an Israeli sniper shot his nephew.

Indeed the western governments have been up to some bad tricks funding this type of barbaric occupational warfare on an imprisoned society.

The US guarantees Israel's right to state sponsored terrorism through UN veto power and all of the related tension has only escalated in recent years.

The Internet has been a valuable tool in communicating these stories to the public and even if they pulled the plug tomorrow, they could never stop the spirit.

This movie is extremely well produced, I suspect that had a whole lot to do with Tom's parents, Anthony and Jocelyn Hurndall, who are, along with his siblings, among the film's main characters.

After Tom Hurndall was shot in the head in Gaza, his parents Anthony and Jocelyn eventually were able to bring him home, but Tom only lasted nine months after the shooting.

The parents expected sympathy and co-operation from the Israeli authorities, but were only provided an official explanation that could not be corroborated by any eye-witness accounts.

For two months the only reply from Israel's military was a wall of silence. Then, two months after arriving in Tel Aviv, the day the family is set to bring their son home, the IDF agrees to see them.

It was just one more example of the extreme lack of consideration that this military organization had for the accountability of its own.

Only after Anthony Hurndall painstakingly recreated the shooting event, as a skilled lawyer, did Israel move to finally convict Hayb.

Billy Hurndall

And then as if right on cue, the Israeli government announced that it was cutting the killer's sentence short. This is something that the family found highly offensive.

But this is the pattern in Israel, and we are talking about the most stringent punishment one of their soldiers ever received for Murder.

It doesn't give a person a lot of comfort.

I pray for this family and for all of the brave activists who do what they do to make sure the world eventually stops what is taking place in Gaza.

Tom's mother Jocelyn Hurndall has written a biography of him called Defy the Stars: The Life and Tragic Death of Tom Hurndall, published in April 2007 and reprinted in May 2008 with the alternative title My Son Tom: The Life and Tragic Death of Tom Hurndall.

His sister, Sophie, works for Medical Aid for Palestinians. His brother Billy is also involved in aiding Palestine.

Tom's youngest brother is Freddy.

I can't imagine how hard this was for all of them, I appreciate the family's ability in turning the event into an education and inspiration that others should follow. Your son was a great person.

Tim King: Salem-News.com Editor and Writer

Tim King is a former U.S. Marine with twenty years of experience on the west coast as a television news producer, photojournalist, reporter and assignment editor. In addition to his role as a war correspondent, this Los Angeles native serves as Salem-News.com's Executive News Editor. Tim spent the winter of 2006/07 covering the war in Afghanistan, and he was in Iraq over the summer of 2008, reporting from the war while embedded with both the U.S. Army and the Marines.

Tim holds numerous awards for reporting, photography, writing and editing, including the Oregon AP Award for Spot News Photographer of the Year (2004), first place Electronic Media Award in Spot News, Las Vegas, (1998), Oregon AP Cooperation Award (1991); and several others including the 2005 Red Cross Good Neighborhood Award for reporting. Tim has several years of experience in network affiliate news TV stations, having worked as a reporter and photographer at NBC, ABC and FOX stations in Arizona, Nevada and Oregon. Serving the community in very real terms, Salem-News.com is the nation's only truly independent high traffic news Website.