A 13-year old female student – carrying a book bag and nothing else – was walking to school on the morning of October 5, 2004 when she strayed too close to an Israeli military post. Under close scrutiny by soldiers at an army post watchtower, the teenager was described during radio dispatches as “a little girl” who was “scared to death.” In simplest terms, she clearly lost her way and had wandered off the beaten path.

Regrettably for the little girl, named Imam al-Hams, this error would prove to be tragic, for sharp-shooters in the Israeli Army, standing less than a football field’s length away, opened fire on the innocent victim. As shots rang out around her, Imam dropped her book bag; then stood alone empty-handed and terrified before walking away from the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) outpost. She didn’t get very far, though, for this solitary student – identified all along as a child by those in the watchtower – was shot from behind by an Israeli sniper.

As the young girl lay wounded and dying in the street, an Israeli platoon commander, known only as “Captain R,” approached Imam, then fired two bullets into her head at close range. The result was a ghastly two-inch hole in the girl’s skull that certainly meant instant death.

But Captain R wasn’t finished with his slaying just yet. After turning to leave, he did an about-face and returned to the prone, motionless body. Without explanation, he then emptied the entire magazine of his military rifle into the 13-year old child’s corpse.

Now remember, when Captain R “confirmed his kill” by firing 17 bullets into Imam’s defenseless body, she was empty-handed and over 100 yards away from the military outpost (thus not even remotely a threat to anybody in the IDF), and not a single Israeli soldier was under attack in any way. Yet Captain R – a cold-blooded murderer if there ever was one – still found it necessary to unleash a volley of gunfire into her tiny body.

As Imam lay slaughtered in the street with over 20 bullets in her chest, head, legs, arms and hands – her skull nearly blasted to shreds from ear-to-ear – Captain R began covering his tracks by commanding his subordinates to alter their reports on what had taken place. Some did, but others were so sickened by this bloodbath that they went to the press and gave a true accounting of the sick, barbaric act that they had witnessed.

Worst of all (if that’s possible), Israeli troops would not allow paramedics or ambulances to get near Imam’s body for nearly an hour. Thus, the innocent child – murdered in the most vile way imaginable – lay in pools of her own blood as any and all assistance was denied.

Then, just yesterday, Captain R was acquitted – found NOT GUILTY on all charges – by an Israeli military court. Upon hearing this verdict, Captain R turned to those in the courtroom and exclaimed, “I told you I was innocent!”