Targeted by the Israelis

“I’ve worked with the [Israeli] paratroopers, and they’re very professional. If they have no orders to shoot, they don’t shoot; if they have orders to shoot in the leg, they shoot in the leg; if they have orders to kill, they kill. Usually, they’re only shooting at a distance of fifty meters or so, and they have scopes on their rifles. When Laurent Van der Stockt got shot in the knee in Ramallah, it was no mistake. There was only one shot. They know this guy’s not going to come back, and that’s what they want. On the other hand, sometimes you get some guy panicking, and then he’ll fire randomly. If it’s guys doing their two months’ service every year – scared, worried about what their girlfriend’s doing while they’re there – then that’s different, too. And sometimes when the Palestinians start throwing stones, the Israelis begin to panic and open up and burp a few bullets. If any one of these was the scenario, then Laurent would have been just unlucky. But I think that there was just one shot that day.”