Father of UK student killed by 'Israel' takes a swing at IOF lies

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: News Websites
30 Nov 2023 09:21
2 Shares

Anthony Hurndall asserts that Israeli claims made after the assassination of his son appear to be akin to the claims that "Israel" is currently using to justify bombing civilians and hospitals in Gaza.

Tom playing football with Palestinian children at al-Rweished Refugee Camp, Jordan, on March 30, 2003 (Tom Hurndall)

The father of a British student who was killed by Israeli occupation forces back in 2004 is urging "Israel" to alter its "unethical and inhuman" military strategies, cautioning that persistent adherence to such practices could erode support from the West.

Anthony Hurndall, whose 22-year-old son was assassinated by Israeli snipers in 2004, made the remarks in an interview for The Times published on Wednesday.

The Israeli occupation has killed 16,000 #Palestinians and injured 35,000 others since the beginning of "Israel's" aggression on the #Gaza Strip on October 7, announced the Palestinian Health Minister, Dr. Mai al-Kaila, on Monday.#Palestine pic.twitter.com/RnGU8zTKkH
— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) November 27, 2023

Anthony's son Tom Hurndall, an aspiring photography student and pro-Palestinian activist, was fatally shot in the head by an Israeli sniper in the Gaza Strip in April 2003, succumbing to his injuries in January 2004 after spending about nine months in a coma.

Tom was shot while aiding Palestinian children trapped in the crossfire in the impoverished Gaza Strip.

Initially, the medical staff at Soroka Hospital claimed that the severe head injuries were the result of a baseball bat, but a subsequent investigation uncovered that the staff had extracted bullet fragments from Tom's brain before concocting the baseball bat narrative.

When the false version of events was debunked, "Tel Aviv" claimed that the young photographer was purportedly armed and identified as a gunman.

“The investigation further revealed that, as standard practice,” the Israeli occupation forces “routinely falsely misrepresent civilians and children as militants, or as armed, and fabricate accounts of events as a pretext for their killing,” Hurndall, who is director of the Center for Justice, said during the interview for The Times.

As the #Palestinian Resistance's Operation Al-Aqsa Flood is in action, let's remind the world of some crimes that the Israeli occupation has committed.#Palestine #OperationAlAqsaFlood
#طوفان_الأقصى pic.twitter.com/cqEOmGYzGc
— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) October 9, 2023

“These claims appear similar to the claims that the Israeli military is currently making to justify their bombing, missile and other attacks on civilian targets and hospitals in Gaza," he stressed.

Hurndall was told by diplomatic circles that the Israeli military “appeared to consider themselves immune from accountability and free to misrepresent innocent civilians as legitimate military targets and to target them, as a form of intimidation or collective punishment."

Hurndall criticized the media and Western governments for presenting a "one-sided" narrative that overlooks the facts.

Almost a year prior to Tom's death, on March 16, 2003, American peace activist Rachel Corrie was crushed to death by an Israeli bulldozer while she stood in front of it, protesting the demolition of Palestinian property.

Both Tom and Rachel serve as examples of how “Israel” terrorized and targeted foreign pro-Palestinian activists in Gaza, seeking to prevent them from exposing its war crimes to the world.

West sees Palestinians as second-class: Russia UN envoy

In the same context, Russia's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Vassily Nebenzia, said on Wednesday, that the West has no interest in helping Palestinians because it sees them as second-class citizens.

Nebenzia told members of the Security Council that "one, extremely unseemly fact has become clear: for the West, Palestinians are second-class people, defending the interests of which they simply have no interest in doing."

The Ambassador added that this lack of interest has been the main reason for the lack of progress at the UN.

Early this month, Nebenzia affirmed that "Israel", as an occupying state, has no right to defend itself, calling for an end to the bloodshed, to avoid expanding the scope of the crisis to the entire region.