Dr. Ezzeldeen Abu al-Aish, an Israeli-trained Palestinian doctor who is also known as a peace activist and promoter of joint Israeli-Palestinian projects, sobbed during a press conference given by phone at the Sheba medical center as he spoke of losing three of his daughters and a niece, who were killed in an Israeli tank attack on his home the Gaza Strip.
Dr. al-Aish, who regularly gave accounts of the war to Israel’s Channel 10 over the past 21 days of attacks, said his children, who also participated in the peace movement, paid the ultimate price for peace, and that he hoped no other parents would have to suffer what he did.
The press conference turned into a rather ugly scene in short order, as several Israelis at the hospital condemned his comments as “propaganda” and one woman, reportedly the mother of three of the invading troops, said he and all those involved in the press conference should be ashamed of themselves for “talking against Israel.” She defended the killings, saying “who knows what kind of weapons were in your house; so what if he’s a doctor? The soldiers knew exactly. They had weapons inside the home.”
But while the Israeli military defended the latest killings, saying they were responding to “sniper fire” in the area, they did not mention the peace activist doctor’s home containing any weapons.