Maysoun Hayek Lies About The IDF, Her Propaganda Video Contradicted By Her Own Account To The Media

There is a video going around by the descriptive name "Palestinian pregnant young lady in labour forced to take her cloths off they shoot dead her husband." In the video, a woman named Maysoun Hayek (Meyson Hayaq in the video) describes what she claims happened in an incident from February 25 2002. The video was supposedly filmed 3 years after the event--and then uploaded to YouTube 4 years later in 2009.

In the edited version of the video, Maysoun Hayek claims that while pregnant and on the way to the hospital, she and her husband stopped at a blockade, and then after being let through, Israeli soldiers shot and killed her husband and then humiliated her by forcing her to undress.

It is important to address the facts of what happened on back in February 2002--during the Palestinian terrorist attacks that became known as the Second Intifada:
On the one hand:

• It is true that the Palestinian woman was pregnant and in a car with her husband
• It is true that the husband was shot dead by Israeli soldiers manning a barricade

However:

• It is a lie that the soldiers shot at the Palestinians after examining them
• It is a lie that the Palestinian couple stopped at the barricade
• It is a lie that Israeli soldiers sought to humiliate her after the shooting by ordering her to strip and abandoning her.

We know that Maysoun Hayek is lying not only because her story in the video contradicts what was reported by the media in 2002--the version of events she tells in the video in fact contradict what Hayek herself told the media at the time as well.

The story Hayek told the media back when the event happened was that the Palestinian couple tried to run an Israeli roadblock--possibly by accident--in a combat area where the Israeli soldiers had received intelligence reports of a possible Palestinian car bomb attack on a roadblock. The soldiers shot at a car that they reasonably believed was manned by terrorists and posed a significant threat to the lives of innocent civilians.

Back in February 2002, Maysoun Hayek contradicts her story, making no mention of having stopped at a checkpoint. On the contrary:

"We were driving and we did not see anything," she said. "We just heard shooting. They shot at the car's tyres and we stopped moving immediately. I got out of the car and all the windows were smashed. I saw my husband was unconscious, as was my father-in-law. I started screaming: there's a baby, a baby."

Military sources said the car had tried to "circumvent a road block" at a time when soldiers were expecting an attack. The army said it was investigating the incident.

This contradicts Hayek's claim they she and her husband stopped at a checkpoint and were examined, then shot after they departed the checkpoint for no reason. The YouTube video is inconsistent with what she said at the time.

In the YouTube video, Hayek claims that after the shooting, Israeli soldiers ordered her to strip and threatened to shoot her. She further claims that the Israeli soldiers placed her in an armored personnel carrier, and drove her to a different checkpoint--where they dumped her on the ground.

But none of the reports back in 2002 describe Maysoun Hayek being threatened at gunpoint to take off her clothes. How can it be that she omitted such a disturbing detail during her 2002 interviews if it actually happened?

For example, in this account, Maysoun Hayek makes no claim of being threatened by the Israelis. Instead:

Hayek swung the door open and began yelling, ‘‘baby’’ in English, she said. Soldiers approached and began administering first aid, she said, placing her and her father-in-law on stretchers. Hayek and her father-in-law were then transferred to a Palestinian ambulance which took them to the hospital. She gave birth to a healthy girl three minutes after arriving.

Here is another account where Maysoun Hayek made no mention of being stripped or threatened by Israeli soldiers:

After the car came to a stop, Hayek opened the door and began yelling, "baby" in English, she said. Soldiers approached, and began administering first aid, placing her and her father-in-law on stretchers, she said. Soldiers ferried Hayek and her father-in-law to another checkpoint, where they were transferred to a Palestinian ambulance, which took them to the hospital, she said.

Bottom line: What we have here is significantly more than contradictory details.

The story recited by Maysoun Hayek in the video is a fictional account attempting to demonize Israelis of arbitrarily murdering and humiliating innocent Palestinians.

This directly contradicts the story reported by the press, which is an account of a Palestinian couple that tried to run an Israeli roadblock--possibly by accident--in a combat area where Israeli soldiers had received intelligence warnings of a possible Palestinian car bomb attack at a roadblock. The soldiers shot at a car that they reasonably believed was manned by terrorists and posed a significant threat to the lives of innocents.

The IDF had been warned about the potential car bomb attack, saw a car speeding toward them, shouted for it to stop, and opened fire when it didn’t. The car sped up when the first shot was fired--possibly because the husband was hit. At that point the soldiers fired more shots.

When the car finally did stop, the Hayek shouted "baby" and the soldiers came to help. The soldiers administered first aid, regardless of Maysoun Hayek's apparent lack of cooperation. While administering first aid, they might have removed some of her clothing in order to examine her--but there were no threats or attempts to intimidate her.

Instead, the Israeli soldiers took the husband to an Israeli hospital and also contacted Palestinian officials, who dispatched an ambulance to the nearest checkpoint, where the soldiers transported Hayek to meet up with the Palestinian ambulance.

The Maysoun Hayek video is just one more in a long line of attempts to exploit a tragic situation and manipulate people's emotions in order to demonize Israel and the IDF.

Technorati Tag: Israel and Maysoun Hayek and Second Intifada.