Israeli officer: I was right to shoot 13-year-old child

Some positive stuff: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Projects_working_for_peace_among_Israelis_and_Palestinians

 

Great link. I wish this stuff would be publicized massively in both Israel and the Palestinian controlled areas. Showing examples of folks working together who are involved would be great. It could counter-balance the 'They hate us, we must take what belongs to us, we can never work together' mantra from both sides.

 

I made no such assumption. What I meant when I talked about there being 13 YO suicide bombers and the girl being a potential enemy combatant was not that the soldier was afraid she was trying to kill him at that time. What I meant was that she was like others who he considered the enemy, she was like people that he was prepared to kill. As such, when she came into an area in which he is authorized to kill her, he did not have to overcome something within himself that would tell him not to shoot someone like her.

In other words, the actions of the Palestinian terrorists have had a dehumanizing effect that worked against this girl. If there had never been teenage or female suicide bombers, then the girl might not fit into his concept of "the enemy" and thus he may not have shot her. Instead, he did not think of her as "a little girl" like you or I would, he thought of her as "one of them" and was therefor able to shoot her for entering a restricted area.