It is a regular boast of the Israelis that their society is set apart from the Arab world surrounding them by its judicial and democratic systems. The concept of poor, beleaguered little Israel surrounded by millions of fanatic Arabs still resonates well in the United States. It keeps the tills ringing and pens scratching away in checkbooks at Zionist fund-raisers. Every once in a while, the Israelis make a big thing of their impartiality, despite their helplessness in the face of a tidal wave of Arab hatred, and a case comes to court in which one of their own is prosecuted for some crime against civilians.

One such trial is just beginning now. A tank commander is accused of the murder of two children in June 2003. The children were killed as they walked through the streets of Jenin in defiance of a curfew. The commander is alleged to have ordered the firing of ten cannon rounds into the refugee camp. One of the shells killed two children, aged six and 13, who, according to their families, thought the curfew had been lifted, and so left their houses to buy chocolate. The massive tank lumbered after the children as they walked and presumably, on the orders of the commander, fired the fatal shell along with nine others. That day in Jenin, a six-year-old girl and a man of 53 were also killed by Israeli troops.

Israel government sources are already pointing out to their American supporters how evenhanded the Israeli authorities are. What the Israelis will not, however, be reminding their generous American friends is that the murder of those two boys and the barbarity of Israeli soldiers, safe in their massive armored tank, was caught on film and broadcast around the world. Millions of people saw for themselves how a six-year-old, who went out in search of chocolate, was killed by the crew of a tank. The Israeli authorities simply had no choice but to bring charges against this officer. There are nine other similar cases outstanding against members of the Israeli military and in the majority of them, a major part of the evidence has been provided by news films.

What the Israelis will not underline as they smooth talk their distant supporters is the fact that they are attempting to stop the world’s media obtaining such damning evidence in future. The curbs on journalists operating in Gaza and the implicit threat that they could be shot by Israeli troops, unless they have obtained the necessary permission to operate in the area, are supposed to keep the world’s media from reporting Israeli repression. As wealthy dupes write out their fat checks, they may not want to consider that were even a fraction of those restrictions imposed upon a journalist in the US, there would be widespread outrage and speedy court action in which the judges would support the media’s right to report.