Letter to Haaretz Editor: MISLEADING TITLE

Letter to the Editor

To: Ha'aretz                                                

 Letter Editor                                                  24 July 2008

Sub: MISLEADING TITLE:

The headline "Soldier filmed shooting bound Palestinian..." (July 21) creates the impression that the soldier shot to kill and the man was killed. This very false impression is reflected by some talkbacks until this moment.

Only when you read the text, as few people do, we see that the Palestinian suffered minor injury. In Paragraph 10 only "Abu-Rahama said he sustained wounds to his left foot", in Para 11: "doctor who examined him found... ‘very slightly wounded with swelling to a toe on his right foot' ". The article is full of similar discrepancies, like the soldier shoots once "at point blank", then "only centimeters away", then "aiming at his legs" - when in fact we see the soldier in the film firing from one meter distance, at the ground before the Palestinian's feet. (A direct hit from one meter would have done much more harm than a swollen toe.)

The shooting is obviously culpable and deserves severe punishment.

Respectfully,
Endre MOZES

Chairman, Take-A-Pen