6 Cheshvan 5776
Monday, October 19 2015
UPDATES and TODAY’S BLOG
12:00 pm
***So much for the fog of what happened last night in Beersheva having cleared. It has now been announced that the terrorist murderer was not the person originally announced after all.
He has now been identified as an Israeli-Arab Bedouin from the Negev town of Hura named Mohind (also spelled “Muhanad”) al-Okabi (21). It has also been reported that his mother is from Gaza.
***Palestinian terrorists staged numerous attacks this morning in and around Hebron and Shechem (Nablus).
***A proposed bill was approved at the ministerial level today that would bar entry into Israel of anyone who supports a boycott against Israel or belongs to an organization that supports a boycott against Israel (Israel being defined as Israel proper, Judea, and Samaria).
The bill now has a long way to go. It will have to be sent to the Knesset and approved in three separate “readings” (aka “votes”).
The good news is that bill enjoys wide support among Knesset members and is co-sponsored by the unlikely coalition of Beit Yehudi, Yesh Atid, Shas, and United Torah Judaism.
The bad news is that the bill will be strongly opposed by the Herzog/Livni party and everyone else on the far left. It will also almost certainly be opposed by Israel Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein as well as the Israel Supreme Court.
8:00 am
Arabs in eastern Jerusalem are giving out candy in the streets this morning to celebrate the Beersheva attack. This picture was taken early this morning.
The main focus of this blog today is the attack at the Beersheva Bus Station yesterday evening, but before we get to that, allow your humble servant to mention that there were more than 50 other Palestinian attacks yesterday, including three other shooting attacks at Beit Haggai (11:35 pm), Sansanna (10:00 pm) and Hawara (9:10 pm). Each of these shooting attacks occurred after the attack in Beersheva.
In addition there were multiple “rock”, Molotov, and arson attacks throughout eastern Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria. Palestinian riots took place at Qalandiya, Mt. Hebron, Tulkarm, Nabi Saleh, Beit Haggai, Silwad, Morag, Psagot, Kiryat Arba, Jenin, Hebron, Isawiya, and near Tekoa.
So now we come to the Beersheva Central Bus Station attack: what actually happened?
[Please note that the information below concerning the terrorist has been corrected from the 8:00 am update given the new information just released by Israel’s Shin Bet security service].
We all went to sleep here in Israel last night not knowing exactly what had taken place in Beersheva. All of the Israeli TV channels had reporters on the scene, and all were reporting different information. This morning the fog has partially cleared:
1. At approximately 7:15-7:20 pm, the terrorist walked right past a security guard into the Central Bus Station armed with a pistol and a knife.
2. He went straight to a woman and tried to stab her, but she kicked him, sprayed him with pepper spray, and ran away.
3. He then turned to IDF Sgt. Omri Levy (19) of Moshav Sdei Hemed near Kfar Saba, and opened fire–killing him–and took Levy’s M-16.
4. He then opened fire in all directions on everyone surrounding him: 11 people were wounded including 4 police officers (or soldiers: still unknown). A wild scene of panic ensued.
5. He then ran out of the bus terminal where he was shot and killed in a gun fight with security forces who were arriving on the scene.
6. Shortly thereafter, security forces, believing that another terrorist was on the loose in the station, cornered a man in a bathroom (who turned out to be an illegal Eritrean). He ran out and was shot by several people including (apparently) the Bedouin security guard at the bus terminal. He later died.
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7. As of this morning, two Israelis remain in critical condition at Soroka Hospital in Beersheva, and two more are in very serious condition. The other wounded were shot in the arms and legs. 23 Israelis have been treated for shock Soroka.
Some observations about the attack:
1. Everyone in Israel knows that the security checks going in and out of malls and bus and train terminals is a complete joke. Men are asked “Do you have a gun?”, and if they say “no”, they are waved in. If men have a backpack, sometimes the backpack is checked and sometimes not. On the other hand, each women is usually asked to open her handbag, but even then there is little actual checking.
These security checkpoints are operated by private security companies, and there is no consistency in operation. Some locations have metal detectors; others do not. Even in locations with metal detectors, there are often no security guards so people walk right through with no checking whatsoever. Just yesterday, before the attack, there were reports that new metal detectors that have been put up in Jerusalem are unmanned, and people come and go unchecked.
Police in every town and city in Israel should immediately clamp down on the private security companies that operate these “security checkpoints” and force them to do their jobs.
2. Everyone in Israel should be carrying pepper spray. The woman whom the terrorist first attacked in Beersheva last night, Sima Kozoshvili, said this morning: “I saw the terrorist, he tried to stab me with a knife to the stomach. I kneed him and then hit him with pepper spray . . . he chased me, and a Border Policeman tried to help me. I passed out and hit my head. Without the pepper spray, I would have died on the spot.”
You can expect that everyone will be buying pepper spray this morning.
3. The situation at Shuafat (believed to be at this time where the terrorist was from) is, and has been for a long time, out of control. As you may or may not know, the Shuafat neighborhood of Jerusalem is the only so-called “Palestinian refugee camp” in Israeli territory, and is administered by UNRWA (even though some 50% of the approximately 35,000 residents are not classified as “refugees” by UNRWA). UNRWA administers the neighborhood because Israeli security personnel do not want to because it is too dangerous, and the PLO security personnel also do not want to patrol there because it is too dangerous and because it is under Israeli sovereignty. The Israeli presence is limited to controlling the checkpoints into and out of the neighborhood.
Back in 1967, Shuafat residents refused Israeli citizenship, but they accepted “Jerusalem Identity Cards” which gives them the same rights and privileges as “regular Israelis.” As a result, Shuafat residents pay Israeli taxes.
For years, residents of the neighborhood have engaged in terror. For example, virtually every attack on the Jerusalem Light Rail Train system comes at or near the Shuafat stop.
It is long past time to clean out the terrorists from Shuafat.
4. The mistaken shooting death of the Eritrean is tragic.
IDF Sgt. Omri Levi (1996-2015):
May this brave soldier of Israel rest in peace.
A student from Malawi, who had worked with an Israeli health volunteer in his country battling AIDS, came up to us as we walked down the street in the UC-Davis Picnic Day Parade and wanted to carry the Israeli flag.