No hope for Brazilian: de Menezes story parallels Palestine

Yesterday I read on Yahoo news that the two officers charged with killing Jean Charles de Menezes, a 27 year old Brazilian man, on a London subway train July 22, 2005, will not face charges related to his death. The shooting took place two weeks after suicide bombers blew themselves apart and over 50 other commuters on the subway in London. The police identified him as a suicide bomber and shot him dead, no questions asked. What’s surprising here is that this same police force had been tracking de Menezes for over a week before this incident occurred. They had taps on his house and followed him from place to place before his death. The crown argues that they had to act because they had limited time. It seems that if you look like a terrorist then by god you’re gonna be treated (ie. shot dead) like one.

What’s more strange is that London’s metro police will be prosecuted for violating health and safety laws because they fail to ‘provide for the health, safety and welfare’ of the victim. Yes, this kinda happens when you shoot him dead without a clear motive.

And here’s the Palestinian link. Remember Iman al-Hams, a young girl who was shot twice by an army commander, who then walked up to her already dead body and proceeded to empty his magazine into her face. Israel calls this “Verification Killing”, this is a law (or by-law or something else that has no grounds) that allows for anyone in the military to perform this action without being held accountable. De Menezes was shot 7 times in the subway. Kind of excessive don’t you think? The commander who brutalized young Iman’s face was not held accountable, much to the dismay of many young Israeli soldiers in his squad who were silenced when they tried to voice their concerns. So you see, not all the Israelis are cold hearted cruel people. It’s only the ones in power that make the decisions, the ones that don’t listen to the young people who still retain a conscience. As in Israel, the London officers will not be charged for their inhumane crimes, though the echoes of Israeli verification killings are loud enough for all the world to hear.