Sapient human beings know two true things: (1) Whatever Palestinians say about Israel, particularly the casualties inflicted by Israeli strikes on Hamas terrorists, is a blatant lie, and (2) the American media will gladly, blindly and maliciously print whatever Hamas tells them. The New York Times is a case in point:  

At issue is a piece published by the Times in which 65 medical personnel who have worked in Gaza during the Israeli operation accuse soldiers of deliberately targeting Gazan children, shooting them in the head. There are lurid stories and X-ray images that purport to show bullets lodged in the head and neck of children. a former newspaper that has never found an anti-Israel or anti-America lie it didn’t love, is a case in point: 

Here's the photographic proof offered by the NYT:

Graphic: X Screenshot

Sapient human beings also know the media is notoriously, likely purposely, clueless when it comes to gun-related issues. They know little or nothing about firearm nomenclature and less then nothing about ballistics and the effects of bullets on human beings.  Here’s why these “65 medical personnel” and the NYT, are liars, and particularly stupid liars at that:

*High-velocity bullets—5.56mm military rounds—virtually invariably deform and/or fragment upon striking human beings, particularly so when striking bone. These bullets look like they just came out of the box prior to being loaded in cases. A graze or flesh wound might not deform or fragment a bullet, but then no one would have found it to X-ray it either.

*The bullets are in perfect lengthwise orientation to the imager. That can’t be the case in real war injuries, which are invariably deformed/fragmented, and enter the body at all angles. Once entering the body, they're often diverted from their entry trajectory. We must expect to see not only fragments, but bullets point-on, base-on, and everything in between.

*Where are the entry and exit damage/wounds, particularly on the upper righthand X-ray?  A bullet piercing the skull will badly fragment that skull and will virtually certainly cause such immediate damage there would be no point in taking the dead victim to a hospital for an X-ray.

*The supposed bullet in the lower right X-ray penetrated only a few inches and then stopped intact?!  If it traversed only flesh, it would not have stopped, and would have so damaged the arteries that again, there would be no purpose in taking an X-ray of a dead victim. The bullet would have vanished into the distance. If it stuck the vertebrae, if that’s what stopped it, there would be massive bone damage, and the vertebrae would have fragmented.  The bullet would be, at the least, deformed, and likely, fragmented as well.

The same would be true of the bullet in the left-hand X-ray. Like the previous X-ray, if it traversed only flesh, there would have been substantial muscle and vascular/arterial damage, and the bullet surely wouldn’t be there to turn up on an X-ray. If it struck bone, we’d be seeing something very different indeed.

How were these X-rays made? Almost certainly by simply placing an unfired bullet on the head or neck of the person. This screenshot illustrates the effect of a 5.56mm bullet striking a human skull: 

Graphic: X Screenshot

The entry point tends to be slightly larger than 5.56mm, but the exit is a catastrophic blowout of the skull as illustrated. Brain matter is not nearly sufficiently dense to slow and capture a bullet. The effect would be no less pronounced on a child’s skull.

The thrust of the NYT piece is Israeli soldiers are purposely shooting Palestinian children in the head. There is no doubt children have been injured in killed in the war started and continued by Hamas. There is also no doubt Hamas has constantly lied about casualties and Israeli conduct. Many Palestinians have been killed by defective Hamas’ rockets aimed at Israel, and there is no doubt Hamas kills its own people if they dare to try to evacuate areas Israel pre-warns will be targeted. The Israel military remains the sole military in history that goes to extraordinary lengths to avoid harming enemy civilians, lengths not required by the laws of war.

Is it possible Israelis have accidently shot or otherwise injured innocents in this war? Certainly. That’s the nature of war. But purposely, as this article claims? Nonsense. The NYT, unsurprisingly, persists in the deception:

Graphic: X Screenshot

Uh-huh. And what, precisely, was this “additional work?” 

The NYT might have additional “evidence” that buttresses its assertions of Israeli atrocities, but if so, no one has seen it. Surely, they think the X-rays provide their best evidence? If so, as ballistics, physics and common sense demonstrate, they’re lying, and in a particularly dimwitted, easily disproved manner.

But that doesn’t matter. All that matters to the NYT, clearly, is supporting the anti-Israel narrative. Journalistic integrity? Adherence to reality? Reproducible science? Nah. Jews bad. Print it.

Mike McDaniel is a USAF veteran, classically trained musician, Japanese and European fencer, life-long athlete, firearm instructor, retired police officer and high school and college English teacher. He is a published author and blogger. His home blog is Stately McDaniel Manor.