With the world watching “big picture” items regarding Israel (such as, of course, Iran, but also including Hezbollah rocket stockpiles in Lebanon, and ISIS and Al Qaida presence in Sinai and surrounding Arab countries), it is sometimes easy to miss the “smaller” threats posed to the Jewish state.
These are the more fascinating moments to spotlight, for me.
On April 25, a Palestinian terrorist named Ali Muhammad Abu Ghannam was shot dead by IDF troops after he ran toward them with a meat cleaver. This incident occurred near Ma’aleh Adumim, at the Al-Za’im roadblock. Ma’aleh Adumim, many readers know, is the somewhat infamous Israeli community east of Jerusalem. It is routinely criticized as Israeli encroachment onto “Palestinian land” by activists and diplomats alike.
Predictably, various terror organizations exploited the tragedy. Fatah, the political wing of the PLO, headed by Mahmoud Abbas, claimed the killing of the terrorist Ghannam was a criminal act by Israel and called on the international community to provide protection to the Palestinian people!
Hamas spokesman Husam Badran called on retaliaton from Palestinians in Judea and Samaria.
It is profoundly sad that Abu Ghannam, a resident of east Jerusalem, was only 17. His whole life ahead of him, and it was snuffed out due to a steady diet of anti-Jewish hatred taught in the Palestinian society.
Yet, Israel is blamed.
Later in the day, another 17-year-old terrorist, Mahmoud Yunis Abu Jahisha, was shot dead after he tried to attack troops at the Cave of the Patriarchs, in Hebron.
Further, according to a report from Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center:
“On April 22, 2015, the Shaheed Nabil Masoud units of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades (Fatah’s military-terrorist wing in the Gaza Strip), held a joint military exercise with the Popular Resistance Committees. It was carried out at a training camp in the northern Gaza Strip. The exercise included simulating storming IDF posts and attacking armored vehicles.”
Astonishingly, the Palestinians admitted the leadership supports such violence: “Referring to the riots in east Jerusalem over the weekend, during which Palestinians confronted Israeli security forces, Amin Maqboul, secretary of Fatah’s Revolutionary Council, told the Huna Al-Quds TV channel 3 that the Palestinian leadership supported the ‘popular resistance’ against Israel and fomented it. He said the Palestinian leadership called for ‘popular resistance’ and also supported the riots against Israel in Jerusalem and all the Palestinian cities.”
Then, a piece on Al-Quds TV spotlighted a deeply troubling development from a leading Palestinian educational institution:
“On April 22, 2015, student council elections were held in Beit Zeit University. The Hamas faction won a majority of 26 seats, while Fatah won 19. A spokesman for the Fatah faction congratulated Hamas on its win. However, Amin Maqboul, secretary of Fatah’s Revolutionary Council, claimed they were weighing the possibility of appointing a committee to investigate the election results (Paltimes.net, April 23, 2015). Khaled Mashaal, head of Hamas’ political bureau, gave a speech congratulating the Islamic Bloc on its win, claiming the elections ‘celebrated good democracy’ and that Hamas was founded on democracy and constructed its institutions democratically.”
For more than two decades, the Israelis have tried in vain to get the international community to help put a stop to this insane incitement on the part of the Palestinian leadership.
To no effect.
Indeed, Hillary Clinton in the past has been tasked with helping ensure that the Palestinians halt incitement, but all she can do is pose with Palestinian terrorists and grin.
Ditto for European diplomats. All the while, the Israelis must deal with these acts of terror on a daily basis. Think of that, thousands and thousands of acts of terrorism against Jews in the approximately 8,000 days since the Oslo Accords were signed on the White House lawn. U.S. officials and other Western leaders have known all along that the Palestinians were violating terms of the agreement.
But Jewish life is cheap to these cowards.
That’s why we should pay just as much attention to a rock-throwing incident that wounds a couple IDF soldiers, as we do to Iran’s menacing threats.
Because it’s all the same thing.
Reprinted with author’s permission from Rapture Ready