CIC shot at near Gaza

GIL ZOHAR

An aide to Israeli Internal Security Minister Avi Dichter was moderately wounded last Friday when a 15-member mission of board members of the Canada-Israel Committee (CIC) being briefed by Dichter came under machine gun fire from the Gaza Strip.

The delegation of Canadian Jews and Christians was touring the border area to get a firsthand assessment of the daily rocket and terror threat faced by Israeli residents of Sderot and the western Negev. They were at the Nizmit Hill lookout over the Hamas-controlled territory, together with a group of several dozen Israeli tourists. The observation tower there, near Kibbutz Nir Am, provides a dramatic vantage point over the northern Gaza Strip's al-Bureij and al-Marazi refugee camps, and is a popular hiking site.

"Suddenly we heard this rat-tat-tat sound going past us, and the ping of the bullets ricocheting off concrete," recalled Michael Elterman – one of the four Vancouver participants in the CIC entourage. "We knew it was automatic machine gun fire. We heard the pause while the gunman reloaded.

Eddy Azran, the CIC's local representative of Sderot, added: "After we evacuated everyone and the army returned fire at the sources of fire, I ran to the car and took out the first-aid equipment that is always on me. I and the minister's driver dragged the injured man to safety.... We checked if anyone else was hurt and evacuated the group by foot, because we had difficulty going near the cars."

As the bullets flew, Dichter, his Shin Bet security service bodyguards and the members of the CIC group hit the ground. The cabinet minister instructed the group to remain calm. The shooting lasted some 30 seconds, and fire was returned from nearby Israel Defence Forces positions. When the Canadians began descending the hill, Dichter's bureau chief, Matti Gill, screamed out that he had been hit. The wound to his groin was not life-threatening. Gill was evacuated to the Barzilai Medical Centre in Ashkelon, and is expected to be released within a few days.

In a press release, a Hamas spokesman claimed that the Palestinian sniper was actually aiming at Dichter. Arab militants have been threatening to avenge the February assassination in Damascus of senior Hezbollah military commander Imad Mugniya.

Elterman disputed that claim. "If they had trying to get Dichter, they would have used a sniper rifle," he said.

Donna Holbrook, a member of the CIC delegation and national director for the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem-Canada, said the group was momentarily shaken by the shooting incident but quickly returned to calm. The Canadians proceeded with plans to have lunch and shop in Sderot as an expression of solidarity with the residents of the beleaguered city of 20,000 – which has endured more than 7,000 rocket attacks over the last seven years.

"We agreed we weren't going to run in the face of terror," recalled Vancouver's Paul Goldman.

"You're only a victim of terror if you run away," observed Elterman, who works as a clinical and forensic psychologist. "If you stay, you're a victim of assault."

CIC board member Paul Forseth, who represented New Westminster-Coquitlam as a member of Parliament from 1993 to 2006, shook his head in disbelief at "the ludicrousness of it all. Just to take a gun and start shooting at people. It shows me the great restraint of Israel in view of the extremist ideology and the challenge of violence."

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, currently on a state visit to Hungary, sent the CIC group a message relaying his concern for their welfare. Also on Friday, Liberal MP Irwin Cotler rose in the House of Commons to condemn the incident.

The CIC is funded by Canada's Jewish federations and advocates closer ties between the two counties.

Gil Zohar is a freelance writer based out of Toronto.

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