The Beersheba District Court has thrown out a lawsuit brought by Dr. Izzeldin Abuelaish against the State of Israel. He was suing the government for killing his three daughters and niece 10 years ago, during Operation Cast Lead. The girls were killed when two tank shells hit his home in the town of Jabalia in the Gaza Strip.
It happened on Friday, Jan. 16, 2009. I was sitting in the TV studio at Channel 10 when my phone began to ring. When I answered, I could hear Abuelaish scream: “They killed my daughters.” I immediately decided to hit the speaker button, so that his screams could be heard live on air. As a result of the broadcast, the IDF allowed him to transfer other members of his family injured in the attack to hospitals in Israel. The audience was shocked. Statistics about the casualties in Gaza suddenly had real faces and voices. In just 24 hours, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert announced a unilateral cease-fire.
Abuelaish sued for damages, hoping that it would force Israel to apologize for killing the girls. He told me that the apology was much more important to him then the damages he claimed. In any case, he planned to donate them to a fund he had established in Canada that offers scholarships for young girls in the Middle East, including Israel.
Throughout the military operation, he claims, the IDF knew that he and his family living in Jabalia were in no way involved in terrorism. I myself testified as much when I appeared in court. Two days before a tank fired at his home, another tank pulled up outside his house and aimed its cannon at it. Abuelaish called me in a panic. I transferred him to the radio anchor of the moment so Abuelaish could tell the listeners himself about the tank outside his window. Immediately after the broadcast, the IDF unit operating in the area received orders to back down and move away from the home. Abuelaish felt safe. He was convinced that the IDF knew that a doctor who worked in Israel lived in the house with his eight children, and that all they wanted was to get through the war in peace. Two days later, his wails pierced the otherwise somber studio.
AL-MONITOR All-Access gives you unlimited access to all our journalism, the full Daily Briefing, exclusive interviews, premium newsletters, and live events — for less than $2/week.
