09-Oct-15: The wave of terror attacks goes on

In the aftermath of this morning's murderous attack on an Israeli in the
Kiryat Arba community, the assailant's knife and blood are left behind
after the victim is taken to hospital and the attacker is shot dead [Image Source]

The coordinated eruption of rock-hurlings, stabbings, shootings and assaults by Arabs on Israelis continues in full force today, Friday.

We heard a commentator on BBC's Outside Source, reporting from the Mount of Olives an hour ago, call them lone-wolf attacks (she may also have slipped the word "alleged" into the sentence to flesh out the effect of her political korrectness) but they are nothing of the sort - unless wolves take their orders via shrill voices broadcasting messages of hate-based incitement via the social media and in mosques and prayer rooms.

The direction of the reporting, at a time when Arab-on-Jew attacks are happening at a furious pace throughout the country, is reflected in the precisely-worded lede of a major BBC report at this hour:

Israelis and Palestinians have been injured in a fresh spate of stabbings, including what Israeli police say was an apparent revenge attack on Arabs... The attacks come amid soaring tensions between Israelis and Palestinians...  ["Israelis and Palestinians injured in new stabbing attacks", uploaded to BBC's website around 3:00 pm Friday]

Here's an incomplete summary as of 2:30 pm Friday:

• An Arab woman attacked a security guard with her knife in Afula's bus station around 2:00 pm this afternoon. (Another knifing attack was launched on one of Afula's main streets just last night.) The guard was unarmed according to this report, though he was part of the team responsible for safeguarding passengers moving through this northern city's main transit hub. Friday early afternoon is one of the week's two major public transport rush-hours throughout Israel. Friday is the start of the weekend in Israel, and many travelers want to be at their destination before the sun sets signifying the start of the Sabbath, The attacker, evidently a resident of the predominantly Arab Israeli city of Nazareth, whose name is reported as Asraa Zidan Tawfik Abed, was stopped with a bullet fired by one of two IDF soldiers (says Jerusalem Post), one male, one female, who fired at her legs and brought her down but did not kill her (this is not Syria or Jordan). The knife-woman is now in Afula's Ha'emek Hospital getting the best treatment that Israeli medicine can offer. We wish her a speedy recovery and a very long prison sentence. The guard's selfless actions almost certainly saved lives today.
• In the southern city of Dimona, a Jewish youth of 17 stabbed four Arabs this morning. BBC calls them "two Israeli Bedouins and two Palestinians". The attacks occurred at a shopping center and nearby. A security guard tackled the knife-wielding Israeli and held him till police arrived to arrest him. This Jew-on-Arab attack has caused an uncommon amount of consternation. News reporters often search high and low to spin terrorism and related events in this country as if they were part of some mythical cycle-of-violence, which they are not. The violence in this current wave is like that of previous waves - calculated to deliver a message of hatred-driven terror into the hearts of Israelis. Unfortunately an Israeli engaging in similar-looking tactics, even given the vast gulf that separates Israeli public opinion about terror from Palestinian Arab views on the same subject, makes it that little bit easier for those superficial reports to be made and to sound credible. All four of the Arab victims are out of danger. Two have moderate injuries and the other two are said to have light injuries. Three of them were taken to Beer Sheba's Soroka Medical Center for treatment. According to Associated Press, "Dimona mayor Beni Bitton said the stabber is a "mentally ill man." He told Channel 10 TV that two of the victims worked for City Hall, and that passers-by quickly rushed to help the wounded Arabs and provided first aid."
• On the narrow route that passes the notoriously violent Arab village, Beit Ummar (about which we have written frequently), hails of rocks yesterday and today (and many times in the past) continue to make life dangerous for Israeli traffic traveling on the Gush Etzion, Kiryat Arba and Karmei Tzur roads. Numerous vehicles have been damaged during today's violence.
• In Jerusalem around noon today in the haredi Shmuel Hanavi neighbourhood, a Jewish teenager of 16 (according to Jerusalem Post) was stabbed and moderately injured by a Palestinian Arab from Hebron. Israel National News reports that the assailant was tracked down by security personnel and apprehended soon after, The wounded boy is getting treated at Hadassah hospital.
• Also around noon, in Kiryat Arba - close to the spot where a serious very similar attack took place yesterday - a policeman was stabbed and injured by a Palestinian Arab male. The assailant was shot by other officers and died of his wounds.
• We are hearing reports from the coastal city of Ashdod about Arab construction workers hurling rocks and cinder blocks at passing cars in the early afternoon.
• And perhaps feeling out-activisted by the Fatah-controlled crowds of lone-wolves in Judea and Samara, the Hamas overlords of the Gaza Strip appear to be flexing their muscles this afternoon. A Times of Israel report, uploaded around 3:00 pm Friday, says "Hamas’s chief in Gaza on Friday called for additional violence against Israel. "Gaza will fulfill its role in the Jerusalem intifada and it is more than ready for confrontation,” Ismail Haniyeh said during a sermon for weekly Muslim prayers at a mosque in Gaza City. “We are calling for the strengthening and increasing of the intifada… It is the only path that will lead to liberation,” he said." The results were not long in coming: "Some 200 Palestinians approached the fence closest to the Nahal Oz Kibbutz in the northern Gaza Strip. “They began throwing stones and rolling burning tires at Israeli forces,” an army spokesperson said. IDF troops, who remained on the Israeli side of the border, opened fire at the protesters, who were approximately 150 feet (50 meters) away, in order to break up the protest and push them from the fence, the spokesman said."

More when we can manage to write and edit. The Sabbath is approaching fast.