بتسيلم – عائلة زيادة
בצלם – משפחת זאדה
THE B’TSELEM FALSE NARRATIVE:
(taken from the B’Tselem webpage)
‘Omar Sha’ban Hassan Ziyadah
31 years old, resident of al-Bureij R.C, Deir al-Balah District, killed on 20 Jul 2014 in al-Bureij R.C, Deir al-Balah District, by gunfire from an aircraft. Participated in hostilities member of the military wing of Hamas. Additional information: Killed along with six members of his family and another person when their house collapsed on them.
Jamil Sha’ban Hassan Ziyadah
52 years old, resident of al-Bureij R.C, Deir al-Balah District, killed on 20 Jul 2014 in al-Bureij R.C, Deir al-Balah District, by gunfire from an aircraft. Did not participate in hostilities. Additional information: Killed along with six members of his family and another person when their house collapsed on them.
Sha’ban Jamil Sha’ban Ziyadah
12 years old, resident of al-Bureij R.C, Deir al-Balah District, killed on 20 Jul 2014 in al-Bureij R.C, Deir al-Balah District, by gunfire from an aircraft. Did not participate in hostilities. Additional information: Killed along with six members of his family and another person when their house collapsed on them.
Yusef Sha’ban Hassan Ziyadah
43 years old, resident of al-Bureij R.C, Deir al-Balah District, killed on 20 Jul 2014 in al-Bureij R.C, Deir al-Balah District, by gunfire from an aircraft. Did not participate in hostilities. Additional information: Killed along with six members of his family and another person when their house collapsed on them.
Muhammad Mahmoud Salim al-Maqadmeh
29 years old, resident of al-Bureij R.C, Deir al-Balah District, killed on 20 Jul 2014 in al-Bureij R.C, Deir al-Balah District, by gunfire from an aircraft. Participated in hostilities member of the military wing of Hamas. Additional information: Killed in the home of the Ziyadah family when the house collapsed on the people who were inside. Six members of the Ziyadeh family were also killed in the attack.
THE FALSE NARRATIVE
“Killed … when their house collapsed on them.”
“Killed along with … another person ….”
“Did not participate in hostilities.”
THE FACTUAL NARRATIVE:
“… HOUSE COLLAPSED ON THEM …”
IDF MILITARY ADVOCATE GENERAL
“… on 20 July 2014, the IDF carried out an aerial strike on a structure that was being used as an active command and control center by the Hamas terror organization. The attack aimed to neutralize both the command and control center and the military operatives who were manning it, and who, according to information received in real-time, were involved in terror activity which threatened IDF forces operating in the area. It was further indicated, that the structure was also utilized by the military operative Mohammed Muqadama, a senior figure in Hamas’ military observation force.“
IZZ AL-DIN AL-QASSAM BRIGADES WEBSITE (OMAR ZIADEH)
” … martyred after his house and family were targeted by a missile from a warplane ….”
SUMMARY
The Ziada family was not killed by a house collapse. They were terror combatants targeted and killed by a missile. Their house was an Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades command and control center and was being used to gather military intelligence for the terror organization.
“…KILLED WITH ANOTHER PERSON…”
IDF MILITARY ADVOCATE GENERAL
“It was further indicated, that the structure was also utilized by the military operative Mohammed Muqadama, a senior figure in Hamas’ military observation force.”
“Findings indicated that among the casualties were three military operatives in the Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror organizations, who were members of the Ziyadeh family, as well as the senior military operative mentioned above, Mohammed Muqadama.”
IZZ AL-DIN AL-QASSAM BRIGADES WEBSITE (MOHAMMED MAQADMA)
” … our martyr Muhammad assumed the responsibility of the monitoring and reconnaissance apparatus in the Bureij Battalion, so he was the one who supplied the leadership with all the information and developments on the borders first-hand ….”
SUMMARY
Another person: The other person was Mohammed Muqadama:
He was a senior al-Qassam Brigades terror operative in Hamas’ military observation force who supplied the terror organization with current information and developments on the border, military intelligence.
“…DID NOT PARTICIPATE IN HOSTILITIES…”
The terror organization logos appearing in the two photographs above clearly demonstrate the family’s involvement with the Hamas and the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the MILITARY wing of Hamas.
IDF MILITARY ADVOCATE GENERAL
” … an aerial strike on a structure that was being used as an active command and control center by the Hamas terror organization. The attack aimed to neutralize both the command and control center and the military operatives who were manning it, and who, according to information received in real-time, were involved in terror activity which threatened IDF forces operating in the area….”
“Findings indicated that among the casualties were three military operatives in the Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror organizations, who were members of the Ziyadeh family ….”
SUMMARY
While B’Tselem did state that Omar participated in hostilities as a member of the Hamas military wing, it stated that Jameel and Yousef did not participate in hostilities. THIS IS FALSE. There were three members of the Zaida family who were military operatives, there was Omar, AND Jameel and Yousef. This fact has been reported by the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center and corroborated by the photographs above.
VICTIMIZATION
The B’Tselem databases create the illusion that Palestinian combatants killed by the Israeli security apparatus are victims, victims of an “occupier“. The Ziada Family narrative is an example of this misinformation.
The Ziada family, B’Tselem’s narrative states, were all killed together in their home when it collapsed on them. The narrative also states that with the exception of Omar who did participate in hostilities, none of the other family members were combatants. The B’Tselem story also mentions “another person” who was in the Ziada home and died with them when the building collapsed.
The B’Tselem narrative creates an issue of moral legitimacy, that Israel does not adhere to conventionally accepted standards of conduct, after all, according to B’Tselem, even though Omar participated in hostilities, the killings took place in his family’s home, civilians were killed along with Omar, who at the time, based on the B’Tselem narrative, was not involved in any hostilities. In addition to the Ziada family members, “another person” was also killed in the home and it can only be assumed that he too, did not participate in hostilities, nothing in the narrative to contradict this. Nothing in the B’Tselem narrative, it would seem, justified the killing of these Palestinians.
Nothing in the B’Tselem narrative justified the killing of these Palestinians when their house collapsed on them, nothing, nothing because B’Tselem omitted significant material facts which had they been included would have resulted in an entirely different account of the incident.
FACT #1
The Ziada family and “another person” did not die because the family house collapsed on them. They died in an aerial strike when a “precise munition” hit the house, they died in an explosion which demolished the house.
FACT #2
The Ziada family house was being used as an active command and control center by the Hamas terror organization.
FACT #3
The attack neutralized both the command and control center and the military operatives who were manning it.
FACT #4
The house was also being used by Mohammed Muqadama, a senior figure in Hamas’ military observation force. He is referred to in the B’Tselem narrative as “another person”.
FACT #5
Among the casualties, it was found that three military operatives were members of the Ziada family, Omar, Jamil and Yusef.
By omitting the material facts cited above, B’Tselem was able to accomplish three key goals. First, it concealed the fact that all the Ziada men present in the family house were terror combatants. Next, the false narrative concealed that the family home was being used for military purposes, and accordingly became a legitimate military target. And finally, the two previous omissions enabled B’Tselem to indirectly suggest that the Ziada family members were victims of Israel’s immoral standards of conduct, attacking and destroying family homes and the needless killing of innocent civilians.
Jamil Sha’ban Hassan Ziyadah, Yusef Sha’ban Hassan Ziyadah, ‘Omar Sha’ban Hassan Ziyadah, Muhammad Mahmoud Salim al-Maqadmeh, terror operative combatants, re-imagined by B’Tselem as victims.
While the B’Tselem databases have re-imagined Palestinian terror operative combatants as victims, the U.S. Department of Justice has identified who the truthful victims were, they closed down a Hamas fundraising scheme and will redirect the Hamas assets to the factual victims, the victims of their terrorism. The event documented below occurred in August 2020:
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE SEIZURE
The original Humanize Palestine website memorialized Hamas and al-Qassam Brigades terror operatives, and B’Tselem represented them as victims, the Ziadas and Maqadmeh are examples of this obfuscation.
Now the real victims have been identified. The U.S. Department of Justice has seized al-Qassam Brigades assets, funds and websites, used to finance their terror campaigns. The monies will be directed to the United States Victims of State Sponsored Terrorism Fund.
To read about the United States’ largest-ever seizure of cryptocurrency in the terrorism context, click HERE.