American activist killed in Israel remembered in documentary
Published: 21 March, 2010, 10:23
Edited: 23 March, 2010, 22:50
Seven years ago the American peace activist Rachel Corrie was crushed to death by an Israeli bulldozer as she campaigned against the demolition of Palestinian homes in Gaza.










On March 16, 2003, American citizen and member of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), Rachel Corrie was crushed by an IDF bulldozer. While Corrie's family alleges that she was killed by a driver who clearly had her in his sights, news interviews and photos tell a different story. Photos published by Reuters shortly after the incident shows Corrie standing to the left of the bulldozer, in a location where she is obviously visible to the driver, holding a megaphone. Beneath the photo, the caption read “Photographed before Rachel Corrie was run over by an IDF bulldozer.” Readers looking at the photograph and caption were lead to believe that the driver saw Corrie and proceeded to crush her under the weight of the bulldozer, however this is a fallacy. Immediately after the accident, our news agency contacted ISM and was sent to speak with some of Corrie’s friends who were with her when she died. Corrie's friend Joe Smith described how Corrie sat on a mound of dirt facing the IDF bulldozer making its way to the house it was about to demolish.Our agency pointed out to him that no such notice appeared in the pictures we saw on the Reuters site. We asked the director general of Reuters in Israel, Tim Heritage, whether Reuters had a set policy of using pictures provided by political organizations, and Heritage replied that it is widespread. Heritage promised into check the matter of the misleading picture that was taken before the incident and asked us to call him back in an hour. After an hour, Heritage was no longer available to speak with our agency. We went into the Reuters website and were amazed to find that the pictures of Corrie had been removed. After our agency checked the pictures that Reuters distributed to the world's newspapers, we noticed the difference. -David Bedein Director of Israel Resource News Agency and Center for Near East Policy Research Melissa Goraj and Sarah Hindman- Staff