07-Oct-16: In the aftermath of an Arab-on-Israeli knifing

The young Arab who carried out the stabbing attack holds Israeli
identification papers [Image Source]

Some two and a half weeks ago, we wrote here about one of those fairly ordinary terror attacks that keep getting brief mentions in the Israeli news media and - usually - no coverage or very little in the non-Israeli media.

There continues to be serious violence in the air. Two officers of the Border Guard service (Mishmar Hagvul in Hebrew) were seriously injured when attacked from behind by a man wielding a knife on the street outside Jerusalem's Old City around 7:00 this (Monday) morning. Times of Israel says one of the Israeli victims, a female officer of about 38, is in intensive care at Shaarei Zedek Medical Center hospital with stab wounds to the neck. (We have noted before that attacking the neck is standard Arab-on-Israeli practice in the Palestinian Arab terror manual.) She is unconscious and was placed on a respirator... Their attacker was shot and is now receiving treatment in a Jerusalem hospital where the latest report is that he's in critical condition. The initial reports we have seen say he is in his early 20s and from the Ras al-Amud neighbourhood of East Jerusalem. In a later Times of Israel report, the knifer is identified as Ayman al-Kurd... [T]he attack took place on the road outside two of Jerusalem's medieval gates: Damascus Gate and Herod’s (or Flower) Gate. The Israeli victims were on security patrol... ["19-Sep-16: Outside Jerusalem's Old City, a Monday morning Arab-on-Israeli terror attack"]

We ourselves are familiar with how news reporting interest waxes sharply (if at all) and then wanes as the broken glass is swept away, the victims are assumed to be in the care of their families or doctors or emergency room teams, and the perpetrators spend the rest of their lives behind bars. 

We're also familiar with how unfactual summaries like that often are.

Here's today's update on the Border Guard officer - still un-named in Israeli news reports - who was attacked by a knife-wielding Palestinian Arab while she was on foot patrol securing the busy streets outside Jerusalem's Old City precinct:

A female police officer who was severely injured in a terror attack in September has shown promising signs of improvement. The 38-year old officer was stabbed by an Arab terrorist near Herod’s Gate of the Old City of Jerusalem on September 19th. Her patrol partner was also stabbed, but managed to draw his weapon and shoot and neutralize the attacker. On Thursday, Shaarei Tzedek Hospital in Jerusalem released a statement detailing the terror victim’s improvements, noting that she was now breathing unassisted and is able to communicate with those around her. But, hospital officials added, the victim is still suffering from neurological damage caused by injuries to her spinal cord suffered during the stabbing. She remains in the intensive care unit... [Israel National News, October 6, 2016]

There's much more to be found on-line about the Arab attacker.

An Israeli magistrate court extended on Thursday the detention of a Palestinian who was critically injured while carrying out a stabbing attack on Israeli security forces in occupied East Jerusalem earlier this month. Ayman al-Kurd, a 20-year-old resident of the Ras al-Amoud neighborhood of East Jerusalem, stabbed and wounded two Israeli police officers on Sept. 19 just north of the Old City. His detention has been extended to Oct. 5, according to Palestinian Committee of Prisoners’ Affairs lawyer Muhammad Mahmoud, who recently met with al-Kurd. One of the officers shot and critically injured al-Kurd on the scene, causing hemiparesis -- weakness on one side of the body -- Mahmoud said, adding that al-Kurd was still being treated at the Hadassa Ein Karem hospital in Jerusalem... [Ma'an News Agency: "Israel extends detention of Palestinian critically injured after carrying out Jerusalem stabbing", September 29, 2016]

(Click here for more reports of a similar, "resistance"-centric nature about the same knife-man and what he did. Reports on the horrific injuries suffered by the Israeli woman are nowhere to be found, other than in what we quoted above.)

Being treated in one of the best hospitals in the Middle East will undoubtedly improve the young stabber's chances of making a full recovery from those gun shots that slowed down and then stopped his cowardly attack-from-behind.

But that's not what Arabic-reading news consumers are being told. In their way of telling things, the victims, naturally enough, are the Arabs including - especially - the knife-man who, says the Fatah mouthpiece, was unarmed when shot by the Israelis:

"The Jerusalem branch of the Fatah Movement emphasized in its statement today, Monday [Sept. 19, 2016], that the occupation forces are targeting the blood of the Palestinians and doing as they please with it in an intentional and direct manner, which is something that will have serious consequences. The statement comes after the summary executions and daily killing that the [Israeli] security forces have carried out against unarmed Palestinians (i.e., terrorists attacking with knives or in car ramming attacks), as seven citizens were executed within a week on pretexts and empty excuses, the last of which was the targeting of young Ayman Al-Kurd (i.e., terrorist, who wounded 2) this morning. Fatah Movement Secretary in Jerusalem Adnan Ghaith said that our Palestinian people has turned into a direct target for summary executions and cold-blooded murder for the occupation forces, who carry out crimes before the eyes and ears of the entire world, without anyone acting to stop these racist crimes." [As reported by WAFA, the PA's official news agency, on the day of the attack, September 19, 2016, cited by Palestinian Media Watch]

What chance that Palestinian Arab society will ever engage in the introspection needed to comprehend, and then end, attacks like the one executed by Al-Kurd, when everyone in his circle is told he was an unarmed, innocent victim of systematic Israeli blood-letting?

Ah, but that is precisely the outcome desired by the Palestinian Authority and its ruling clique.

A Facebook page headlined "I am a Palestinian. I am not a terrorist" provides a sympathetic English-language portrait of the terrorist, and includes a photograph of the Israeli-government-issued ID card [here] we posted at the top of the page. As an Israeli, it's likely he will continue to be entitled to Israeli Social Security (Bituach Leumi) benefits as he continues to recover from being shot by police.