As I write these words, numerous ambulance and police sirens sound once again outside my window in Jerusalem. It seems like the sirens haven’t stopped in over a week.
I don’t know what the rest of the world is hearing about the situation in Israel. I haven’t been following the international press. It’s hard enough keeping up with the never ending string of attacks via the local media. From what I gather, the information being published is too little and extremely biased, if not outright false.
In Israel, so much has been written about the situation, and I usually don’t like writing about over-chewed subjects, but this is so huge that I can’t allow myself to go without adding my two cents on it.
In case you haven’t heard about the situation, here is a very short summary: Over the past months, there have been a growing number of attacks by Palestinian Arabs against Jews, mainly in the Jerusalem, Judaea and Samaria areas. These attacks took the form of mobs attacking cars with rocks, firebombs, and an occasional shooting. These attacks were kept quiet for the most part. Most of the local media tries to downplay the importance of these attacks, obscure the national identity of the attackers and portray the Palestinian population as peace-loving and downtrodden. However, when these attacks result in Israeli deaths, it is harder to keep them quiet and then the media usually tries to find a way to explain what we did wrong to provoke these attacks.
This is exactly what happened. On Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year, four weeks ago, Alexander Levlovitch (64) was killed in Jerusalem when Palestinians stoned his car. Since then, there has been a sharp increase in the quantity and quality of the attacks, along with growing media attention. Over the last week, Palestinians have resorted to stabbing attacks, mainly in Jerusalem, but also in other cities, including Afula, Petach Tikva, Kiryat Gat, Gan Shmuel and Ra’anana. There have been 5-6 such attacks every day, with a rising body count. Most of these attacks end with the attacker being shot by police. Some of the attacks include other weapons such as firearms, cars and even explosive devices (a map of the latest attacks can be found here). We live in a f**ked up world, and some foreign media have been reporting only on the deaths of the attackers, without mentioning that these ‘victims’ were engaged in murdering Jews at the time of their deaths (for example- this outrageous article).
A partial list of the attacks carried out on October 8th.
The result is terror. People are now afraid to leave their houses in Jerusalem. When you walk the streets, any person on the street who looks Arab could pull out a knife. It can happen anywhere. The other day, while commuting from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv on the bus, I fought my exhaustion and refused to fall asleep, for fear that the two Arabs sitting behind me might slit my throat. Every ambulance siren makes us jump, for fear that another attack will be reported soon on the news. Terrorism is a psychological tool meant to strike fear and demoralize. This is the atmosphere here.
Humor as a coping mechanism: A humorous badge of the new “Neutralization corps” in the IDF. Last night, a civilian neutralized a terrorist on a bus, using a nunchaku. Today, a civilian neutralized a terrorist using a selfie stick.
Photo by Eretz Nehederet.
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Who’s to blame?
Here is the part where I bring in my two cents.
I took a course in Public Diplomacy last year and learnt that according to current research, a full message, that has a better chance of being well-received, must have four components. One of those components is the ‘who dunnit?’. For a message to be coherent, it has to include the identity of who is to blame for the current situation. One of the reasons that Israel is not doing well, diplomatically speaking, in this current wave of violence, is that there is no coherent message of who is to blame. Is it Hamas? Is it the Palestinian Authority? Is it the Palestinian public in general (a very non-politically correct option…)? Who is behind this wave of terrorism? I watched a video of a debate between an Israeli and a Palestinian on French TV in English. The Israeli made his case quite well, but when he blamed the Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, for inciting the violence, the Palestinian activist countered and said that Israel’s own famed Intelligence claimed that Abbas was not inciting violence. Such a claim was actually reported in Israeli news. The fact that Abbas has been publicly recorded making remarks in favor of violence against Jews becomes irrelevant, in the face of such a ridiculous news report.
The fact is that it is difficult to point at an exact origin of this current round of terrorism. In a Knesset committee meeting a few years ago, when social media was in its diapers, one MK asked to bring “the man in charge of the internet” to answer questions before the committee. Obviously, there is no one “in charge of the internet”. It has a life of its own. The internet is in charge of itself. Similarly, there is no one person or organization behind the recent violence. It is the result of an entire system, rigged to do exactly what it’s doing now, without having any one person pull the trigger and take the blame.
There are three main incentives for a young Palestinian to get up one day and decide to become a murderer:
- The social incentive-
Palestinians have been indoctrinated to kill. This sounds horrific, and it is. Every outlet of information in a Palestinian’s life pours hatred of Jews and Israelis into his or her brain. They get it in school, where they are taught that one day there will be no Israel. They get it on TV, where children’s programs show children who aspire to “become martyrs” and kill Jews as role models (link, . In Gaza, Hamas trains young boys every year in summer camps to become fighters. They get it from their leaders who tell them that the endgame is to eliminate Israel, and that there will be no peace as long as Israel exists. Anyone living in such an atmosphere would have to be an exceptional human being to not become consumed with hatred.
A video is circulating on the subject, showing what it would look like if similar incitement existed in England against France. Usually, such videos show an exaggerated version of reality. In this video, reality is far worse than how its depicted.
ISIL compared with footage from a Palestinian video promoting the murder of Jews.
- The religious incentive-
Watch this video. It will shock you. It shocked me. In it, an Imam in a mosque in Rafah, Gaza, gives a sermon, telling his followers that their religious duty is to kill Jews. The words are not veiled or hinted at. He says it loud and clear: go out and stab Jews. The more, the better. Similar sermons go on in many many mosques, and are even broadcast on Palestinian TV.
- The financial incentive-
This is possibly the most outrageous of them all. The Palestinian Authority pays people to go out and kill Jews. I’ll say it again. The Palestinian Authority, which is the Palestinian government, which is financed almost entirely by international aid PAYS ITS PEOPLE TO KILL JEWS. That’s YOUR taxpayers money being used for murder. How does it work? If you are a Palestinian who was arrested or killed by Israel, you and your family are entitled to a salary for the length of your incarceration. The more heinous the crime, the longer the jail sentence, the higher the salary. That means murder equals big money. The salary for Palestinians serving three years in jail is good, compared to the average wages for more ‘conventional’ jobs in the PA. The salary for Palestinians serving sentences of 30 years and up (which means murder) is higher than what most Israelis make.
So I’ll sum it up: If you are Palestinians, you have been taught that it is your religious duty to kill Jews, and that if you do so, you will go to heaven. You have also been taught that Jews are the scum of the earth, that Jews kill Palestinian babies to drink their blood (such outrageous claims have been made) and other similar libel, and you also know, that if you carry out this heinous crime, which is viewed as the highest honor in your society, you and your family will be set up financially for life. All the arrows point in one direction- Go stab some Jews.
The face of a terrorist.
How do we stop it?
I don’t have all the answers, of course. If I did, maybe I’d be running the country, instead of our semi-spineless leaders. What I do know, is that the means for stopping Palestinian terrorism are not politically correct and they definitely won’t go down well with our friends and allies in the White House and the EU.
But for starters, we have to change the balance of all those incentives to kill Jews.
- Stop incitement. Easier said than done. Here we need your help. Palestinian leaders need to know that if they want to continue getting international support and aid, they have to start teaching their children peace. “Stand With Us” is running an online campaign called #StopIncitement . Join in and support it. Write to your own leaders and demand their voice against Palestinian incitement.
Also write to Facebook and report groups that incite violence. A quick search just turned up dozens of groups that are called “death to Israel” in different variations. I’ve reported some of them in the past. Facebook usually ignores these reports until they get a lot of them. That means you need to get your friends to report them as well.
- Take away the promise of heaven and 72 virgins. A common Islamic belief is that if the body of the terrorist comes in contact with pork, they miss out on heaven. Bury the bastards in pork. Ignore the public outcry of the politically correct. These are people’s lives we’re talking about.
Arrest Islamic clerics who preach violence. They are just as dangerous as a man wielding a knife, if not worse.
- Make it not worthwhile financially for a terrorist and his immediate family. Freeze all their assets, demolish their home, and deport them immediately.
And here’s your part again- write to your leaders and demand that your country cease all aid to the Palestinian Authority and other Palestinian organizations until they stop funding terrorists and their families.
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