Human rights activists release video of Israeli snipers shooting out protesters' legs

by: johnalive

Wed Jan 14, 2009 at 22:20

The Israeli army have shot six people with a new weapon in the West Bank villages of Jayyous and Ni'lin while the villages were demonstrating against the Israeli massacres in Gaza.

Three men have been shot in Jayyous, including a journalist in clearly marked as a press official. Two were shot in the leg and one above his hip.

Three Palestinians have also been shot by the new bullets in Ni'lin.

The new bullet is very small and makes no sound as it is fired. It is designed so that it enters the body when fired from under 50m and has been shown to cause serious internal bleeding.

Open Left commenter Richard Taylor did some research and discovered that what was most likely used against the protesters was a small-caliber suppressed sniper rifle that Israel discontinued for use against protesters in 2000 due to it being much more lethal than first thought.

In 1987, the Intifada - the Palestinian uprising against the Israeli regime in the Occupied Territories - broke out, and involved mass violent clashes between Israeli security forces and Palestinians protestors. As a result, the Israeli security forces needed a weapon with a more potent firepower then the standard riot control metal covered rubber round, but at the same time less lethal then the standard issue 5.56 mm round of the M16/Galil assault rifles. So the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) searched for a 0.22 caliber accurate rifle that will be used to take out the key protest leaders by shooting them in the legs. Link.

ISM has now released a video of Israeli snipers using the rifle on Friday against protesters in the West Bank village of Ni'lin.

Apparently, ISM activists don't read Open Left (and I don't have any contact with the group) since they are still referring to it as "the new bullet" and so seem unaware of the weapon's deadly history. Here's a link to the latest report that accompanied this video.