Gaza Airstrike Claims CBS Family Member

(CBS)  The war in Gaza has claimed more than 800 lives to date, according to the Palestinian count. And one of those deaths hit close to home here at CBS News.

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There was a familiar face among the anguished relatives rushing the injured to a Gaza hospital, last week, reports CBS News correspondent Richard Roth. Marwan Al-Ghoul was in tears. As a Palestinian cameraman and reporter in Gaza, Al-Ghoul has seen plenty of suffering in the years he's worked for CBS News.

These tears though were personal, for the brother whose body he'd just brought in. Akram Al-Ghoul was 48 years old, and a father of five. A lawyer and judge in Gaza, he left his job when the Palestinian Authority lost power 18 months ago. He didn't want to work for Hamas.

"And he was very sad, and he left the Authority, and he left the city, and he went to live in the farm between his garden, between his flowers, dirt, and between his books," Al-Ghoul said.

And that's where he died, just north of Gaza City, on the family farm. In late afternoon two days after New Year's, an Israeli air strike killed him, Roth reports. With the war heating up, Al-Ghoul says, he'd just warned his brother to be careful.

"He said to me, 'Listen, Marwan, I am safe - the Israelis know me very well. I am civilian man - they would never kill me. If they kill me, they would be stupid, and the Israeli army is not stupid,'" Al-Ghoul said.

Al-Ghoul and Roth talked across the Israeli border by cell phone, over the noise of war. Al-Ghoul said his brother's death is a mystery that must've been a tragic mistake.

"His view was, all of the time, that there was no option - we must live peacefully with the Israelis all of the time," Al-Ghoul said.

Akram Al-Ghoul's death is now among the wartime incidents Human Rights Watch is asking Israel to investigate, Roth reports.

"I don't know," Al-Ghoul said choking back tears and raising his voice above the sirens in the background. "I don't know really. I want the people to remember him."

[antoniof123]

Sad here is a guy who left his job so as not to work for someone who he disliked and I see that some people here are saying it is okay. He stood for his principles and this is how you treat him.

You fools have been drinking the kool aide way too long if you believe your nonsense that dribbles out of your mouth.

[wardoglrs]

Israel ready to strike Iran.
The concept of insider information is a witch-hunter''s dream. It''s a natural for envy-driven losers, government lawyers, and the like.

Israel indeed will launch a strike against Iran''s nuclear facilities soon - possibly in just days as President George W. Bush prepares to leave office. The reason: The time clock has begun to run out. Iran is close to acquiring a nuclear device under the control of its radical president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Mohamed ElBaradei said in June that Iran would have a nuclear weapon in as little as six months. That six-month period has passed. Reports of Israel''s decision to imminently launch strikes, although unconfirmed, would seem to contradict the Bush stance outlined in a front-page New York Times story last week, which asserted that Bush rejected a plea from Israel last year to help it raid Iran''s main nuclear complex

[krotec54]

The Muslims have no sense of shame; they are savages and will always be. This hatred they are sowing will blossom into an intense loathing that will grow and perpetuate itself throughout time. If the Muslims wanted to insure perpetual hatred from the civilized world, they have just guaranteed it.

[letsbgood]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_OGhj43GAE

[gaye5]

The article says that the CBS News cameraman and reporter Marwan Al-Ghoul, buried his brother who was killed by an Israeli Airstrike. The brother (Akram Al-Ghoul) was a lawyer and judge in Gaza, he left his job when the Palestinian Authority lost power 18 months ago. He didn''t want to work for Hamas.

Does this give us any insight into why the CBS seems to be more on the side of the Palestinians showing details of the deaths of women and children on the Gaza side but fails to show the deaths of women and children on the Israeli side. The CBS fails to tell the people that the Hamas constantly use its people as human shields and in this case have put its weapons of war amongst schools, Mosques etc to maximize the death toll of IT''S OWN babies and children so as the world would have a hatred towards Israel, it is the people of Gaza that we should have a hate for, simply for deliberately putting their children in danger zones instead of protecting them as Israel does.
Perhaps having this journalist who is an Arab shows why we don''t see the other side of the killings and that Palestine has been sending rockets into Israel for years and only now that they are retaliating has the media taken an interest and tells the world not of the restraint of Israel for so long but about how terrible Israel is, not Palestine but Israel..

[nycsense]

morphndol8,

If you have a point to make then please do so. Is this random collection of words supposed to be poetic? Is it code for something beyond our comprehention? It reminds me of the crazy poem (randomly assembled phrases) Lili Sobieski read on Jay Leno right after 9/11.

[nycsense]

Liberals love to blame everyone but those who are directly responsible for the problem - in this case, the people of Gaza are responsible for their own problems. If Hamas had spent their money on civic projects that improve the lives of their people instead of smuggling in bombs and rockets, things would be different, and Israel would never have had any reason to block the borders or to invade Gaza.

Common sense tells reasonable people this.


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Posted by CBSisPravda1

Only an idiot would over simplify a situation they know absolutely nothing about. That same idiot would also keep using the "us vs. them" routine as if to not involve himself, but criticize from the outside looking in. How do you suppose the Palestinians build any infrastructure or create civic projects with harsh sanctions imposed on them? The absolutely have to smuggle in food, tools and anthing else they need from Egypt. Occasionally, a few bad apples smuggle in weapons and the ones who end up paying the price are the ones least involved. So, next time, try using you''re head before you say anything that makes you look as stupid as the president you love so much.

[trishab59-02]

Liberals love to blame everyone but those who are directly responsible for the problem - in this case, the people of Gaza are responsible for their own problems. If Hamas had spent their money on civic projects that improve the lives of their people instead of smuggling in bombs and rockets, things would be different, and Israel would never have had any reason to block the borders or to invade Gaza.

Common sense tells reasonable people this.
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Posted by CBSisPravda1 at 01:29 PM : Jan 12, 2009

-DYou know that this is called collective punishment? DYou know this is punishable by inprisonment according to the Geneva Accords on laws and rules during time of War?

Israelis politicians are not cleared from wrongdoing; over 900 victims most of whom are civilians killed by IDF, the military tool. Check it on Amnesty International website.

[rusure5]

Re: "Gaza Airstrike Claims CBS Family Member"

Yet, CBS continues to lick the arse of the Zionist.

[shaullavan1]

Dear Newshour,
The story is tragic indeed.

I hope, however, that you will balance this by showing the damage to homes in Israel from years of rockets that led to this war.

I hope you will point out that Israel kept people safe through bomb shelters, while Hamas prevented even their tunnels from being used. Their top leaders are reportedly sitting in bunkers underneath the main Gaza hospital.

I hope you will ask why Egypt is not allowing Gazans to take temporary refuge on the Egyptian side of the border. They could easily do this by opening the Rafah crossing.

I hope you will ask why Egypt kept the Rafah crossing shut, and even now, allows only a trickle of medical supplies through. Most food and medical supplies still come through Israel.