Here's another case of media bias. To be fair, this morning's NY Post did indeed pick up the story on its front page. But I doubt to many others did.
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Hebron/Arutz7-Israel National News Commentary
The Little Shahid
by David Wilder
The Jewish Community of Hebron
March 16, 2004
Shalom.
What does the name Abdallah Koran mean to you? Anything? If not, it should. Abdallah Koran should be a banner-sized headline in all news publications around the world, hard-copy and internet.
Why?
Abdallah Koran is about 10 years old. His exact age is not 100% clear. Yesterday afternoon Abdallah, before making his way through an IDF checkpoint near Shechem, in Samaria, was made a tantalizing offer. Approached by some ‘older people,’ Abdallah was promised a great sum of money if he would do them a small favor. They requested that Abdallah act as a messenger and take with him, along with his school books, a backpack for some people waiting on the other side of the checkpoint.
Of course, little Abdallah agreed. Why pass up a chance to make some good money so easily.
At the checkpoint a border policewoman, examining all those crossing over, became very suspicious. The backpack was big and heavy, much heavier than would normally be used by a ten year old. The youngster was quickly questioned – “What is in this backpace?”
Never having been questioned by uniformed Israelis before, Abdaallah was frightened. “It’s not mine. Someone gave it to me to take across the checkpoint, as a messenger.”
The backpack was carefully removed to an isolated area, where an army sapper examined it and proceeded to explode it. Inside the backpack was a 6 – 10 kilo (about 15 lbs) bomb belt, hooked up to a cellular telephone.
It seems that the terrorists who provided the bomb to little Abdallah had planned on blowing him up, together with the Israeli soldiers at the checkpoint, at the time of its examination. But the plan failed. The bomb didn’t go off.
Had he managed to get it through the checkpoint undetected, it is most likely, according to Israeli intelligence-security forces, that the bomb would have been detonated on a bus packed with people, murdering Abdallah and the others on the bus.
As I wrote, you should know this already because this story should be headlining all news programs, radio, t.v., newspapers and internet. But, it’s not. As of this writing, this story does not appear on the homepage of CNN, Fox, or MSNBC.
Let’s, for a minute, play one of my favorite games: Make Believe. Make believe, for a moment, that a ten year old from, let’s say, Hebron, was found carrying a bomb on his back, attempting to kill some Arabs in Hebron. Or, maybe a little boy or girl from Yitzhar, who was trying to kill some Arabs somewhere in Samaria. Or, or or …
Can you imagine the headlines. I mean, after all, one of the pictures of the year, a few years ago, was a photograph of a Hebron child pulling off an Arab woman’s headscarf. That was a major international crime which made blazing headlines. But, a 10 year old with a bomb, who was not only to be the killer, but also the target?! Why should anyone pick up the story? A 10 year old Arab with a bomb - that's everyday stuff. What’s it worth?
Only a couple of days ago 10 Israelis were killed in cold blood by two terrorists who managed to bypass the infamous ‘wall’ or ‘fence’ or call it whatever you wish – the magical barrier which would prevent any such infiltrations from Gaza into “Israel proper,” in this case, the Ashdod port. That terror attack was billed as an ‘almost Mega-attack,” due to the proximity of the terrorists to poisonous bromide tanks, which, upon explosion, could cause the deaths of thousands of people. But, here again, the terrorist detonated himself too fast, for one reason or another, and the ‘big tragedy’ was averted. This time. But, according to most news broadcasters, commentators and everyone else, it will (G-d forbid) happen. It’s just a question of time. The Spanish attacks will seem like child’s play in comparison.
In my opinion, mega-terror cannot be strictly measure by the number of people killed. Of course, numbers do mean a lot. But each and every individual person is just that, a person. And every loss is just that, a loss. To the families of victims, it is little consolation that their loved one was ‘one of many.’ When Mom or Dad, Brother or Sister, Son or Daughter is gone – they’re gone and it makes no difference how many went with them.
In my opinion, the attempted use of Abdallah Koran, an Arab 10 year old child, is Mega-terror. The vile, immoral, depraved use of a child to kill others, this is mega terror. Perhaps not in the quantitative sense, but certainly qualitatively.
Only the brilliant alertness of a young border policewoman saved many lives – lives of Israelis and the life of little Abdullah. Otherwise Abdullah Koran would have been labeled, for the rest of eternity, ‘the little Shahid’ – the little martyr, who killed and died for his people, without his even knowing it, against his will.
With blessings from Hebron.
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Here is the NY Post's coverage of the story:
TERROR FIENDS TRY TO TURN BOY INTO BOMB
By URI DAN
March 16, 2004 -- Palestinian terrorists yesterday stooped to a sickening new low - trying to turn this baby-faced 10-year-old boy into a human bomb by having him unknowingly smuggle an explosives-laden backpack past a West Bank checkpoint.
Impoverished little Abdallah Kora'an - working as a pint-sized porter at the Huwwara security checkpoint near Nablus - had been offered money by two men to lug what they hoped would pass as a schoolbag through the heavily guarded spot and into Israel, government officials said.
The lethal package - laden with nuts and bolts to make it even deadlier - was then to be handed to cohorts on the other side and used for a future homicide bomber in Israel, officials said.
But the terrorists had a chilling backup plan: If the boy was stopped and searched, they would use a cell phone to immediately detonate the 15 to 22 pounds of explosives, murdering nearby soldiers - and the innocent boy, officials said.
That's the scenario that the thugs were left with when an alert guard grew suspicious and stopped Abdallah for a search at around 6 a.m.
The terrorists feverishly tried to detonate the device while watching the scene unfold from afar. But they were apparently foiled by a glitch in their wiring, Israeli military chiefs said.
The officials said the rag-tag boy, who lives with his family in the Balata refugee camp, was simply an innocent player in the horrific scheme and had no idea he was carrying a bomb.
"[Someone] asked him to carry through a bag . . . and left. He just wanted to make money. He's just a poor kid," one official said.
Israeli officials said the boy told them he had been promised "a large sum of money" to deliver the bag to a Palestinian woman on the other side.
The boy regularly helps tote baggage for Palestinians not allowed to drive through the security check, officials said.
He also had his own bag filled with schoolbooks at the time.
As Abdallah began trudging through the security check, an eagle-eyed female soldier noticed that the backpack seemed unusually heavy for such a small boy.
When she told the increasingly nervous child she wanted to search it, he immediately confessed, "The bag is not mine. I was asked to carry it across."
The woman started to look in the bag and spotted a cell phone. That's when explosives experts were called in. They eventually safely detonated the package away from the scene.
Several of the terrorists who dispatched the boy have already been captured, Israeli sources said.
The government has blamed the Tanzim - Palestinian militants linked to the Fatah group under leader Yasser Arafat - for the plot.
But a senior leader with the terror group denied involvement.
"We do not use children," he said. "We do not lack in [adult] fighters. The aim of the Israeli army is to belittle the Martyrs Brigades. They are lying."
News of the plot came only a day after two 17-year-old Palestinian boys - juniors in high school - blew themselves up in Israel's main port of Ashdod, killing 11 people and injuring 18.
The killings prompted Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon yesterday to nix any potential peace talks with the Palestinians in the near future. He charged that it's obvious they can't control the terrorists in their camp.
The Bush administration did not immediately respond to Sharon's announcement, but acknowledged that any peace efforts would be difficult with the ongoing terror campaign.
With Kate Sheehy in New York and Post Wire Services
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Elliot |
