Daniel Estrin

Daniel Estrin

Daniel Estrin is an American journalist. His radio stories have aired on The World, All Things Considered and Marketplace.

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Israel Empathizes as the US Mourns After Newtown Shooting

December 17, 2012 ⋅ Post a comment
Armed civilians in Israel. (Photo: Yossi Gurvitz/flickr)

Armed civilians in Israel. (Photo: Yossi Gurvitz/flickr)

Israeli Prime Minster Benjamin Netanyahu compared the killings in Newtown, CT to other terror attacks on Israeli civilians.

Reporter Daniel Estrin speaks with Marco Werman about how the school shooting resonates with Israelis.

Discussion

3 comments for “Israel Empathizes as the US Mourns After Newtown Shooting”

  • http://www.facebook.com/dickplatkin Dick Platkin

    I heard this report today, and I thought it missed some crucial details. First, there are virtually no examples of Palestinian gun violence against Israelis.  But, there is much evidence of Israeli gun violence against Palestinians, facts completely eliminated from the report.  For example, American settler Baruch Goldstein massacred 29 Palestinians and wounded another 120 in 1994 on the West Bank. 

    Or what about Israeli death squads that have operate on the West Bank for many years. See: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/03/01/israels-death-squads-a-fo_n_170871.html. 

    Finally, the Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem has compiled statistics for many years comparing Palestinians killed by Israelis versus Israelis killed by Palestinians.  It paints a totally different picture than your story:Fatalities since the outbreak of the second intifada and until operation “Cast Lead”Click on the numbers for a list of individual names and details about the circumstances of their death.The Fatalities’ data can be shown either by the date of the event in which they were hurt or by the date of their death. Since some of the fatalities died of their injuries days, weeks and sometimes months after they were hurt, choosing the view affects the distribution of data.Data by the date of event, 29.9.2000-26.12.2008Occupied TerritoriesIsraelGaza StripWest BankTotalPalestinians killed by Israeli security forces299917904789   69Palestinians killed by Israeli civilians44145     2Israeli civilians killed by Palestinians39200239 492Israeli security force personnel killed by Palestinians97146243   89Foreign citizens killed by Palestinians10717   37Foreign citizens killed by Israeli security forces4610    0Palestinians killed by Palestinians474134608    0Palestinians executed by the Palestinian Authority8210    0Palestinians executed by the Hamas Government00    0Additional data (included in previous table)Occupied TerritoriesIsraelGaza StripWest BankTotalPalestinian minors killed by Israeli security forces636316952    3Israeli minors killed by Palestinians43539   84Palestinians killed during the course of a targeted killing277107384    0Palestinians who were the object of a targeted killing15082232    0Palestinians killed by Palestinians for suspected collaboration with Israel11109120    0Palestinians who did not take part in the hostilities and were killed by Israeli security forces ( not including the objects of targeted killings).1354833218   75Palestinians who were killed by Israeli security forces and it is not known if they were taking part in the hostilities240404644    4Palestinians who took part in the hostilities and were killed by Israeli security forces12554711726   60Palestinian police officers who were killed inside police stations000    0Notes:The data may change due to ongoing research, which produces new information about the events .
    The figures do not include :Palestinians who died in the West Bank after medical treatment was delayed due to restrictions of movement.Palestinians who died after Israel delayed their transfer for medical treatment outside the Gaza Strip.

  • http://www.facebook.com/VoicesofPalestineSeattle Amin Odeh

    Your conversation yesterday
    re Israel/Newtown was terrific hasbara for the Jewish democratic state, though
    I’m pretty sure you have no idea you are performing this service; I imagine
    it’s just second nature. The world view you project has Israel as the victim in
    a conflict whose only salient feature seems to be that victimhood. Gone is all
    context. No illegal occupation, no 80%-of-adequate-diet regime in Gaza, let
    alone state terror, including the assault on Gaza of just a couple of weeks ago that killed 105 civilians, including 28 children
    and 13 women. Of course, no 1948, no violent ethnic cleansing of innocents. And
    no big brother US is visible, seeing to it that the most modern weapons are
    available to the fourth strongest military power in the world so that they
    might defend their good works. Just the-only-democracy-in-the-middle-east,
    victimized. Probably because Arabs just hate Jews.

    You don’t have to see
    this “conflict” from my perspective, but what gives you the right to
    decide for your NPR audience who is the victim and who the victimiser? What
    gives you the right to start the clock when the suicide bomber arrives at the
    pizzeria? For you it seems Palestinians attack, Israel retaliates and defends,
    end of story, we know who our victim is and who the bad guy is.

    Why wouldn’t it have
    occurred to you to use as your point of comparison with the Newtown shootings
    the above-mentioned assault on Gaza? You mentioned that “gun violence, not
    to mention bomb violence has shattered people’s lives and those of their
    children–how do Israelis heal after national trauma?” It just wouldn’t
    have occurred to you that the same might apply (only more so in fact–look at
    the numbers) to Palestinians? At the very least I would have expected an
    attempt at even-handedness, given the contoversial nature of this
    “conflict”–in this country at least.

    I now know clearly what
    your bias is with respect to Israel/Palestine. This is disappointing and very
    disturbing journalism.

     

    Amin Odeh

    Seattle, WA

  • Institute for Research: Middle

    Like the previous two commentators, I found this report to be beyond ridiculous.  Canada might have provided some useful juxtaposition.  But Israel only raises red flags.