15 Adar II 5776
Friday, March 25 2016
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. . . BREAKING NEWS . . .
6:44 pm: Palestinian terrorists in Gaza launch missile into southern Israel near Zikim. Iron Dome deployed at several locations.
4:36 pm: Attempted stabbing at checkpoint in Issawiya. No Israelis wounded. Terrorist captured.
9:24 am: Palestinian stabbing attack thwarted at exactly the same place in Hebron as the attack occurred yesterday. No Israelis wounded. Terrorist captured.
UPDATES 9 am Israel time
(Please note that Israel changed to daylight saving time last night)
–->Palestinian terror yesterday . . .
Aside from the stabbing attack in Hebron in the morning (see Today’s Blog below), there were at least 20 “rock” and Molotov attacks. Israeli motorists, pedestrians, and security personnel were attacked in such places as Issawiya, Mt. Hebron, Abu Dis, Al Khader, Shiloh, and Ariel.
–>Some Purim pictures from yesterday that capture some of the spirit of an Israeli Purim . . .
This joyous picture of an ultra-orthodox man with a bottle of wine in his hand being propped up by his sons on a street in Jerusalem exactly captures the Purim spirit of “Drink so much that you can’t tell the difference between “Praised be Mordechai and cursed be Haman (picture ibt).
From the Tel Aviv parade yesterday:
A wild time was had by all.
A picture that your humble servant’s wife took of some angels on the street in Kfar Saba yesterday:
Children, teenagers, and adults of all ages were walking around towns in all sorts of costumes yesterday.
TODAY’S BLOG
Yesterday, israelstreet posted the following breaking news:
2 Palestinian terrorists stab IDF soldier at Tel Rumeida in Hebron. Soldier suffering from wounds in the upper torso . . . in moderate condition. Both terrorists shot and killed.
What happened was a stabbing attack like so many others, but a few hours later, all hell broke loose in the Israel media.
Not because there had been yet another stabbing attack, not because an IDF soldier had been wounded, and not because both terrorists had been shot and killed. All hell broke loose because of “how” one of the terrorists had been shot–the second time.
To recap what happened: two terrorists attacked an IDF soldier; they stabbed him repeatedly. Then they were shot by other IDF soldiers.
One of the terrorists was shot and stumbled some ten meters from where the soldier sat bleeding before he (the terrorist) died.
The second terrorist was also shot and lay unmoving on the street in much closer proximity to the soldier. He was still alive as paramedics worked on the soldier to staunch the bleeding. He was then shot for a second time by another Israeli soldier and immediately died.
A short time later, a Palestinian camerawoman working for the infamous B’Tselem organization released a video that purported to show the Israeli soldier cold-bloodedly killing the second terrorist as the terrorist lay on the ground bleeding to death. The video seems to show that with no provocation whatsoever the soldier lifted his weapon and fired, at a distance of about two meters, into the head of the terrorist–immediately killing him.
After the video was released, the rush to condemn the soldier spread like wildfire through Israel’s political leadership.
PM Netanyahu gushed that “what happened in Hebron does not represent the values of the IDF. The IDF expects its soldiers to act calmly and in accordance with the rules of engagement. “
Moreover, continuing a nauseating trend that started a few years ago, the rush to condemn the soldier spread even more rapidly through the IDF leadership.
Officers everywhere, in a gross betrayal of one of their own combat soldiers, could not wait to jump on the “Let’s condemn the soldier” bandwagon. Without the slightest suggestion that “the soldier is innocent until proven guilty,” comments like these popped up everywhere:
“Defense” Minister Ya’alon: “The incident in which undocumented soldier comes into the attack in Hebron, shoots the terrorist minutes after being neutralized and lying on the ground, is very serious and contradicts the IDF’s values and morals of fighting. We must not allow, even when the blood is boiling, the loss of such irrationality and such a loss of control. This event will be treated with the utmost severity.”
IDF spokesman Gen. Moti Almoz: “The pictures speak for themselves and there is no point to come and explain how serious it is. It is not the IDF, not the values of the IDF, not the IDF culture, [and]not the culture of the Jewish people . . .”
But do the pictures speak for themselves?
Apparently not.
Before we offer up the anonymous soldier on B’Tselem’s, Netanyahu’s, and Ya’alon’s altar of political correctness, perhaps we should consider the soldier’s perspective.
1. There have been a number of cases over the last few years in which soldiers and medics attempting to treat wounded terrorists have begun to do so only to discover that the terrorist was wearing an explosive belt or vest under his coat and was wired to explode. In such cases, IDF sappers had to come in and defuse the explosives before care could be rendered. The most recent case like this occurred a few months ago near Ramallah.
2. The terrorist on the ground in Hebron yesterday was wearing precisely the kind of coat used to cover a suicide vest. And the coat was especially suspicious because of the hot temperatures yesterday. Just before paramedics began to treat the terrorist, one paramedic reports that there were shouts: ‘Watch out, watch out, he’s trying to blow himself up . . . There were both soldiers and civilians. That’s what they shouted there and I heard it in my ears . . . [Someone] shouted something like ‘[he] is mined or watch out for [he] is mined.'” Click here for a full account of the paramedic/witness.
As you watched the video, you might have wondered how the “poor” terrorist could have been left lying on the ground for so long. Now you know why.
3. Also watching the video, you surely noticed that at precisely the moment that the soldier fired, the terrorist’s right arm is partially obscured by the truck. According to those present, the terrorist was beginning to move his right hand. Was he going to trigger a suicide vest? At that point no one could have known.
A lawyer for the soldier had this to say last night:
“You can clearly see in the video that the terrorist moves, and that the terrorist is wearing a coat that could conceal an explosive vest and other explosives underneath . . .”This is a process that is at its start. Things have yet to be deeply examined, and I am saddened to see that a public trial has been conducted before the suspect has been given the right to defend his innocence.”
Indeed, everyone does have a right to defend his innocence. The political and military attempt to railroad this soldier before he has had a chance to defend himself is disgusting and, while it may represent the values of the new IDF, it most certainly does not represent the values of the IDF that we all know and love.
Let’s give the soldier the final word today since virtually no one else is giving him a chance to speak: “I did the right thing at the right time in order to prevent the killing of innocent people.”
That is what your humble servant will believe unless the evidence of the case proves otherwise.
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.