Thomas Wictor

I got a belligerent message asking me to “prove” that the Israeli Air Force didn’t kill the four Bakr boys on the Gaza beach, July 16, 2014. From a forensic standpoint, this is incredibly easy to do, so I’m happy to oblige.

First, we’ll re-emphasize that the Israeli Navy denies firing on the beach.

That leaves the air force. Israel refuses to confirm or deny that its unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are weaponized, but it’s not likely that a jet or a helicopter gunship fired the missile. A UAV is the perfect platform for observing and taking action. They cruise so high that they can’t be heard from the ground.

There are no photos or videos of the missile impacting the steel container on the breakwater. NBC News was filming the beach during the first explosion. You can see that at that moment, the steel container was unaffected.

It was a huge explosion that shook the windows of the al-Deira Hotel 328 yards (300 meters) away. However, the air-to-surface munition that hit the steel container on the breakwater was small.

That smoke cloud indicates a missile with a low explosive yield. There are several candidates.

One is the Mikhol (Paintbrush).

Another is the Mikholit (Mini-Paintbrush).

A third is the Spike ER.

All three of these missiles have high-explosive or blast-fragmentation warheads. The fragments are shaped like this.

They don’t make round holes, and the missiles lack the power to dismember people unless the target is directly hit.

For now the location of the first explosion remains a mystery. TF1 News says that this was where the explosion took place.

It’s southwest of the Adam Hotel (“1″ on the map).

However, a closer look shows a calm dog (red arrow) right next to where we’re told a massive explosion just occurred.

This footage was purchased from a Palestinian cameraman. We have no idea when it was taken, but the dog proves that it’s fraudulent.

The terrace of the Adam Hotel shows blast damage in the form of broken glass.

None of the Israeli missiles fired at the distant police post could’ve smashed all that thick glass. I think what you’re seeing is the result of a Hamas improvised explosive device that was detonated to the left of the white metal structure. The purpose was to lure the IDF into firing at the police post by convincing them that an attack was imminent. Note the twisted sheet-metal and what looks like a crater. This explosion drew reporters, nice targets for terrorists with an antitank guided missile.

Somebody sent me a screen grab from the CTV National News broadcast of July 16, 2014. The video can be seen only in Canada. The screen grab allegedly shows the moment right after the missile strike.

I’ve numbered four landmarks in that image and the one below.

1. Roots Hotel
2. white boat
3. white pickup truck
4. black boat

Though the Canadian video is supposed to have been taken right after the missile strike, the metal shack in front of the Adam Hotel terrace is intact. The only way to learn the definitive sequence of events is if the IDF releases video of the strike.

That explosion caught on film

The press and Palestinians want you to believe that a missile strike killed three boys and was caught on film. We can discount the 24 Media Production Company photos, since they’re composite fakes. The base of the smoke tower moves laterally, while the height doesn’t increase. Click the photo to see how the two images differ.

A Palestinian cameraman sold footage to several news outlets that purports to show the second strike (green arrow).

The red arrow above marks the banner identified by the green arrow below.

Due to the compression by the telephoto lens on the camera used to shoot the video, it’s impossible to determine the exact location of that explosion. However, the bodies of Ahed, Zakaria, and Mohammed Bakr were “discovered” in an area that had no evidence whatsoever of a missile strike.

No crater anywhere, and no sign of fragmentation. The boys’ bodies were very far apart, as if they’d been hurled by the explosion. However, the missile used wouldn’t have been powerful enough to do that.

In this video of a missile strike on Hamas terrorists, the explosion was more violent due to the gas in the car’s tank.

Even though the munition exploded right next to the terrorist in the front passenger seat, he simply fell out onto the street. He wasn’t tossed a great distance.

Finally, what you need to remember is that there’s no debris from an Israeli aerial munition. Missiles have warheads, casings, guidance systems, and control surfaces. The only thing that explodes is the warhead. Parts of the missile are always left behind.

This was the biggest Palestinian PR coup ever, but they provided no evidence that the Israelis actually killed the boys.

Until I see an Israeli Air Force video of the strike, I can’t agree that the IDF killed those four boys. The IDF has a long history of taking responsibility for deaths it didn’t cause, so it’s likely that the criminal investigation will result in scapegoating.

Just keep this in mind: Several witnesses said that the second strike occurred behind the running boys and men. We even have photographs of the boys who made it alive to the al-Deira Hotel.

If multiple people saw four to six males run to the hotel, dodge an explosion, and make it to safety, and if we have the photos of the survivors to prove it, then that means the Israeli Air Force could not have killed the boys.

Not one person claims that two groups of four boys each ran toward the hotel, and both were fired on.

Update

Something bugged me about the CTV National News screen grab. I can’t tell you why, but it seemed utterly phony. A Canadian downloaded the video for me, and my hunch was correct. Unfortunately the broadcast is too big for me to embed. That’s for the best, because the Canadians would file copyright violation charges against me. The concept of fair use doesn’t exist in Canada.

So here’s a shot of the police post after the “first strike.”

Then the camera swings violently to the right, an attempt to capture the “second strike,” the one that “killed the boys.” What we see is the Roots Hotel.

It looked eerily similar to the footage that many European news outlets broadcast. The “second strike” is captured at 0:45-0:46.

But guess what? Look again at the police post in the CTV National News video before the “second strike.”

No smoke. It’s not on fire. The footage was faked. They just swung the camera wildly and dubbed in the sound of the explosion.

If the Israelis take responsibility for this sprawling fiction, it’ll say a lot about their judgment.