07-Feb-18: In Gush Etzion's Karmei Tzur, another Arab-on-Israeli knifing Wednesday morning

The secured entrance to Karmei Tzur this morning [Image Source]

At the secured entrance to the Israeli community of Karmei Tzur (an hour's drive south of Jerusalem and Bethlehem via the Tunnels Road) in Gush Etzion, a Palestinian Arab equipped with an attack knife stabbed one of the security people inside the booth at around 6:30 this morning (Wednesday). Times of Israel says a second security person shot the assailant and killed him.

The Israeli who suffered knifing injuries, said to be a male of about 34, was treated at the scene by Magen David Adom paramedics. He was then rushed to Jerusalem’s Shaare Zedek hospital, fully conscious, for emergency care.

We're evidently in the midst of one of those periodic upticks in Arab-on-Israeli knifing attacks.

Meanwhile the narrative-spinning of the Palestinian Arab news media continues in its customary manner:

HEBRON, February 7, 2018 (WAFA) – A Palestinian was shot dead by an Israeli security guard on Wednesday following an alleged stabbing attack at an illegal settlement north of Hebron, Palestinian and Israeli reports said. The Israeli army said a Palestinian stabbed a security guard at Karmi Tsur settlement near Halhoul, north of Hebron, before another guard shot him dead. The stabbed guard was taken to hospital where he was reported in light condition. The Palestinian coordinating office identified the alleged attacker as Hamzeh Yousef Zamaareh, 19, from Halhoul. Palestinians said Israeli soldiers raided the Zamaareh home following the incident. WAFA correspondent said residents of the area where the Zamaareh home is located clashed with the soldiers. No injuries were reported. ["Palestinian shot dead following alleged stabbing attack north of Hebron", WAFA, this morning]

Martyr-style portraits of Zamaareh (or Zamareh) are already circulating in the terrorism-friendly parts of the social media. Here's one that suggests he worked in a pizzeria. His family will now become eligible for payments from the terrorism-encouraging PA Martyr's Fund ("Rewards for Terror"). This however will not be mentioned in any mainstream media reports.

Halhoul appears frequently in our blog posts. No prizes for guessing why. The most recent murderous attack emanating from Halhoul that we reported is this one: "17-Nov-17: Ramming/stabbing attack Friday morning at entrance to Efrat"

17-Nov-17: Ramming/stabbing attack Friday morning at entrance to Efrat

Today's attack vehicle: The driver had a knife
and used it too [Image Source]

There has been an Arab-on-Israel attack in Gush Etzion, just south of Jerusalem this bright, sunny, late-Autumn morning (Friday). The first reports appeared on social media around 8:15 am.

From Times of Israel:

A Palestinian terrorist rammed his car into two people, seriously injuring one of them, before getting shot while trying to stab soldiers in the central West Bank on Friday morning, the army said. The driver of the vehicle, who has yet to be named, rammed his car into the first victim, a 70-year-old man, who sustained a light head wound, at the Efrat South junction, medics said. He continued down the road to the nearby Gush Etzion Junction where he hit another Israeli man, 35, according to the Magen David Adom ambulance service. The second victim was initially said to have been lightly-to-moderately wounded, but the hospital downgraded [sic] his condition to serious, with a brain injury. The army said the driver then got out of his car with a knife and tried to stab soldiers. “The soldiers responded by firing towards the attacker, resulting in his injury,” the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement. According to the hospital, the terrorist was in critical condition.

Ramming followed by stabbing: it's classic Palestinian Arab textbook jihad. At this stage, the indications - unconfirmed - are that the terrorist is being treated at one of the two Hadassah hospitals in Jerusalem and is alive but in bad condition after being shot.

Israel National News says the older of the two Israeli victims, David Ramati from the nearby community of Kiryat Arba, was run-over by the attacker and his van. He is being treated for his injuries at Shaarei Zedek Medical Center.

The younger victim was struck by the same vehicle but at a different nearby location, and is being treated for serious head injuries at Jerusalem's Hadassah Ein Karem hospital.

The same source says (and at this early stage, we will be looking for confirmation) that the terrorist who executed the attack is a seventeen year old Palestinian Arab. This means he is a child in the eyes of the law and will therefore be entitled to the attention and protections of the new Bill proposed to the US Congress by Rep. Betty McCollum

a Democrat representing the families of Minnesota’s Fourth District in the United States House of Representatives. In 2000, Congresswoman McCollum made history as only the second Minnesota woman elected to serve in Congress since statehood in 1858. McCollum represents the residents of Minnesota's capital city, St. Paul, as well as all of Ramsey County and most of Washington County...

From her November 14, 2017 media release:

Congresswoman Betty McCollum (DFL-Minn.) today introduced legislation— the Promoting Human Rights by Ending Israeli Military Detention of Palestinian Children Act, H.R. 4391 — to prevent United States tax dollars from supporting the Israeli military’s ongoing detention and mistreatment of Palestinian children... “This legislation highlights Israel’s system of military detention of Palestinian children and ensures that no American assistance to Israel supports human rights violations,” Congresswoman McCollum said. “Peace can only be achieved by respecting human rights, especially the rights of children. Congress must not turn a blind eye the unjust and ongoing mistreatment of Palestinian children living under Israeli occupation.”

JMs McCollum's co-sponsors are Representatives Mark Pocan, Earl Blumenauer, André Carson, John Conyers, Jr., Danny K. Davis, Peter A. DeFazio, Raul Grijalva, Luis V. Gutiérrez, and Chellie Pingree.

The legislation has the endorsement of

• American Friends Service Committee
• Amnesty International USA
• Center for Constitutional Rights
• Churches for Middle East Peace - which offered this commentary: "We must ensure we are not supporting the continued trauma inflicted on Palestinian youth entangled in the Israeli Military Detention system...”
• Defense for Children International - Palestine
• Friends Committee on National Legislation
• Global Ministries of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) 
• United Church of Christ
• Jewish Voice for Peace
• Mennonite Central Committee
• Presbyterian Church (USA)
• U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights
• United Methodists for Kairos Response (UMKR)
• United Methodist General Board of Church and Society.

If any of these groups has ever criticized, let alone condemned, the overt weaponization of children systematically carried out on an ongoing basis by Fatah (through its Palestinian Authority extension) and Hamas, we have seen no signs of it.

We sent her a Tweet on Wednesday which has evidently not yet received her staff's attention:

What a shame if Rep McCollum's misguided initiative [see "The NGOs that Wrote McCollum’s Legislation on Children’s Rights"] were to continue on its way without the author explaining how she rationalizes sanctioning Israel's security policies while she and her law turn a blind eye to the Palestinian Authority's open and explicit child-weaponization.

Vicious Arab-on-Israeli terror attacks like this morning's are the direct result of that kind of silly and dangerous moralistic preening. Maybe someone could ask Rep McCollum where she stands on Arab-on-Israel ramming/stabbing attacks like today's. And whether she sees her Bill stopping them or encouraging even more. And whether any of that matters to her.

UPDATE November 17, 2017 at 11:30 am: The attacker, according to the Arabic edition of Ma'an News Agency's website, is Izz al-Din Ali Abu Rmeishan Karaja. He's from Halhoul, a town close to Efrat which has produced a significant number of terrorist attackers in the past few years (click Halhoul for our posts on previous attackers from there).  And he is 17, so the law sees him as a child. They have a photograph of him (which we will not show) here. It's very likely being circulated right now as he becomes a celebrated hero. Depending on how the recovery process goes, he's headed to becoming either (a) a lifetime recipient of a massive Palestinian Authority financial windfall - what we call the Mahmoud Abbas Rewards for Terror scheme; or (b) a martyr whose life will be honored and celebrated in their circles.

UPDATE November 18, 2017 at 7:30 pm: The younger of the two Israeli victims is Even Ezer (Ebenezer) Holaring, 35, is still in very serious condition at Hadassah Ein Kerem hospital according to Israel National News tonight. They say he's a member of Kiryat Arba's Bnei Menashe community of Jews whose origins are traced to India. His family, including six children under the age of 13, is going to need lots of support of a social, spiritual and emphatically material nature - see the details at the special Gush Etzion Foundation website page that has been set up to gather support for them here.

11-Nov-15: An Arab grandmother, an "accident", what we were told, what we know now

Immediately after the elderly woman driver was shot, Israeli soldiers
inspect her car: Halhul Junction, November 6, 2015 [Image Source]

Emphasizing the immersion of the entire spectrum of Palestinian Arab society in hateful, bigoted terror, there's some more to know about the woman in her seventies whose vehicle somehow collided with several Israelis last week, resulting in her death by gunfire. [Here's where we reported on it.]

Her name is Tharwat Ibrahim al-Sha'rawi, known also as Tharwat Sharawi and by the title Um Ayoub, presumably in honor of a child called Ayoub,

On November 6, 2015, a vehicle she was driving suddenly accelerated as it approached a cluster of Israeli soldiers near Halhul Junction, close to Hebron. (An additional ramming attack had taken place more or less in the same location a day before - our report on that is here.) The soldiers reacted quickly, and she was shot. They found a large commando knife in her handbag after the woman was rushed away to hospital in Jerusalem. She died there of her injuries.

Here's a clip of the attack as captured by an IDF helmet-mounted video camera:

In the immediate aftermath, the propaganda machine serving the Palestinian Arab side got busy with its customary denials and accusations:

• From the Jerusalem Post: A witness who works at a gas station close to the scene of the attack described the incident as a “regular car accident.” The witness, who was not identified, told Palestinian reporters that Sha’rawi was driving her car in an area where clashes were taking place between IDF soldiers and stone-throwers. He said she tried to flee from the scene because of the tear gas fired by the soldiers. “She drove toward the gas station, where the soldiers were stationed... As soon as she got out of her car, the soldiers opened fire at her, killing her instantly. I saw three soldiers open fire at her.” [The video above shows what nonsense this is.]
• Associated Press: "Her son denied she tried to harm anyone, and that she was on her way to lunch with her sister when she was killed."
• A Tweet: "#Israeli occupation forces executed the #Palestinian woman Tharwat Sharawi 70Y/O from Hebron with 15 bullets"
• Electronic Intifada, a notorious megaphone for anti-Israel propaganda asserted that "it is possible that the elderly driver could have been impaired by tear gas media reported had been fired heavily in the area. The video reveals that there are Israeli soldiers both to al-Sharawi’s right and to her left, on a median in the middle of the road. Several Israeli soldiers standing in the street have no trouble moving out of the way. No one is hit by the vehicle. But Israeli soldiers, including those on the median, immediately begin firing on the car." [The Electrifada activists might have noted, as we did, that another attack-by-vehicle ramming had been done at the same place a day earlier. That makes it easier to understand the rapid response of the IDF soldiers at the junction.]
• On the Arabic-language Alwatan Voice site, an alleged "eyewitness" employee of the nearby gas station said that Al-Sharawi’s car "approached towards the gas station from the direction of the Ras al-Jora area in what he called a normal manner. The Israeli soldiers opened fire on it with volleys of bullets. [She] was likely trying to escape towards the gas station from the large amount of tear gas in the Ras al-Jora neighborhood when the soldiers riddled her car with bullets..." Why? No special reason. [Source]

Today, via the Tel Aviv-based Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, some fresh details have emerged that shed some light on her intentions and motivations:

• Two weeks before the lethal assault, al-Sha'rawi wrote a will. And she reportedly told a daughter, Ihlam, about the same time: "I think I am going to die soon... Oh, Allah, let me die as a shaheeda [martyr] and not in my bed" (Source: The Shasha.ps website, November 8, 2015). We now see she turned her prayer into a plan; she succeeded in not expiring in a bed.
• Violent confrontation with Israelis is nothing new in this clan's life. She was the widow of Fouad al-Sha'rawi, a terrorist killed by IDF fire near Hebron during the early days of the so-called First Intifada in 1988.
• Ihlam, the daughter, is the wife of Mohammad Jamal al-Natshe, a Hamas-faction member of the (non-functioning) Palestinian Legislative Committee. His current address is in care of the Israel Prison Service. Though none of the Arabic-language websites we consulted said so, this book indicates that Grandmother Al-Sha'rawi's son-in-law was among the founders of Hamas. At some point, al-Natshe served as head of Hamas' so-called "military wing in the West Bank". The connection to the Islamist terrorist movement runs strongly in this tribe.
• A Hamas poster [source], replete with Hamas symbols and imagery (see right) was issued to mark the death of the elderly woman, adopting and celebrating her "achievement".

There's a tragic consistency to the counter-factual way the Palestinian Arab media collaborate in issuing broad-ranging denials that attacks against Israelis - by car, by gun, by knife - are connected to terrorism. Allegations that the Israelis have carried out "extra-judicial executions" are now a fixed part of the ritual, adopted by Palestinian Authority figures, by anonymous editors and reporters, and by members of the terrorists' family and/or clan. For foreign consumption only, the attackers are presented as being as innocent and pure as the driven snow.

The message beamed at the Palestinian Arabic public, by contrast, is the exact opposite: the perpetrators - whether pension-age grandmothers or adolescent youths - are portrayed as martyrs, shaheeds, whose heroic actions elevate them into figures of community-wide emulation, and role models for others who will be persuaded to follow in their footsteps.

A society, in other words, in the full grip of a death cult state of mind.

06-Nov-15: Friday early afternoon | Terror attacks update

The scene outside the Rami Levy supermarket an hour ago

A very wet Friday here, but the weather has not prevented more Palestinian Arab terrorist attacks on Israelis.

There has been a stabbing assault in the Sha'ar Binyamin area on Jerusalem's northern edge. An Arab knife man, who managed to flee, stabbed an Israeli male in his (more or less) forties outside the Rami Levy supermarket branch in the Sha'ar Binyamin Industrial Zone. The injuries are serious: wounds to the upper part of the body. (Please pray for the recovery of Shmu'el Ben Chava.) The attack happened at roughly 1:30 pm this afternoon. IDF forces are currently in pursuit of the terrorist.

Times of Israel reports that minutes before that attack, a Palestinian Arab woman tried to run down a cluster of IDF soldiers at Halhul Junction, near Hebron. (We wrote about another ramming attempt at about the same place yesterday, here.) She failed, and was shot by soldiers. Israel National News reports that she is - startlingly - 72 years old. Other than the attacker herself, no one was hurt. She was taken to a Jerusalem hospital for emergency Zionist medical treatment for the injuries she suffered when being shot.

The Ma'an News Agency, based in Bethlehem, says she died of her injuries at Shaarei Zedek Medical Center. This might be true. It names her as Sarwa al-Sharawi and says her husband, Fouad, "was killed by Israeli forces during the 1st Intifada".

05-Nov-15: "Suspected" attacker in "purported" ramming is "allegedly" dead, Israelis "claim"

Alleged funeral today [Image Source]

In yet another vehicle-ramming attack on Israelis yesterday (Wednesday), a Palestinian Arab driver, identified by the PA Ministry of Health (in a Ma'an News Agency report today) as Ibrahim Skafi, 22, from the Tulkarem/Samaria area, drove his vehicle into a cluster of Israeli Border Guard officers standing by the side of a road. The attack happened at the Halhul Junction, near Hevron, on Route 60. 

Times of Israel says the driver was stopped with a single shot fired by members of the Israeli security forces at the scene. He died, and his body was promptly handed over to his family for burial. Here's the photographic evidence.

As for his victims, a 20 year-old male is reported to be in critical condition as of today (Thursday) at Jerusalem’s Hadassah Medical Center in Ein Kerem, in the intensive care unit. He suffered multiple injuries, including a severe injuries to the head. A second Border Police officer was struck and also injured in the attack. He is doing much better.

An Arabic-language site published video of the attack - it's embedded below. Watching an act of deliberate attempted murder unfold is altogether different from hearing reports using the laconic term "vehicle ramming".

Plainly, the attack was not directed at the two Israelis who were struck but at a much larger group (though it seems only two needed hospitalization).

Adopting their customary "Who are you going to believe? Us or your lying eyes?" commitment to objective reporting, the English-language side of the Arab media report the attempt to kill the young Israelis in ambiguous language that has a sadly familiar feel to its cloudiness, hedging and doubt-sowing:

• Ma'an calls it "a suspected vehicular attack". 
• WAFA, the PA's official news mouthpiece, says the driver "was shot dead by Israeli forces purportedly for ramming his vehicle into two Israeli soldiers at Halhul junction, north of Hebron, as Israeli authorities claimed."
• Demotix, a photo-and-news site, says Skafi, the driver, "was allegedly shoot dead after he rammed Israeli soldiers by a car..." Snapshots of the mourning family and friends suggest they weren't fooled by all the allegedlies; for them, he scored a victory.

Demotix image from yesterday's gathering in honor of the deceased driver
indicates that for some of the mourners, his death signified
a victory [Image Source]

But in the Arabic-language parts of the Arabic media, there's much less ambivalence and double-talk. For the Arabic-speaking public, the driver is a hero, already admitted to the pantheon of Palestinian Arab shahidim.

• As this Arabic media, site demonstrates, he was immediately declared a martyr. They show the posters...
• and the post-death portraits
• This Arabic-language site says he carried out a "heroic operation" in which he "ran over a number of Zionist soldiers" "resulting in the killing of an Israeli soldier" (which is not true).
• PAnet, the Arabic-language news site "serving the young adult Israeli Arab community" writes today that the family of "the 23 year old martyr Ibrahim Samir Ibrahim Scavi from the city of Hebron" "announced they will be receiving well-wishers for the martyrdom of the son in the Hebron municipality hall for three days starting from Thursday." 

On the other hand, The Associated Press reports the events factually and devoid of spin:

A Palestinian rammed his vehicle into an Israeli police officer in the West Bank on Wednesday, seriously injuring him before he was shot and killed, police said. It was the latest in a nearly two-month rash of violence that has seen almost daily Palestinian attacks on Israeli civilians and soldiers. [AP, November 4, 2015]

Hamas, rarely reluctant to stoke the flames, wants much more:

The leader-in-exile of the Islamic militant group Hamas on Wednesday urged Palestinians to step up unrest to "liberate Jerusalem and the West Bank," saying efforts by his internationally backed Palestinian rival are insufficient. [Source]

Efforts? What we see in the video clip above is what he means by efforts. And he and his fellow Hamas kleptocrats make clear they are not getting enough of it. And will try hard for more.

UPDATE: November 8, 2015 - The Israeli victim mentioned above, Binyamin Yakubovich, died today of his injuries. He was just 19. Details of his life were published on this Israeli government website.

12-Dec-12: Scenes from the front lines, courtesy of the Tayar Report

Palestinian Arab attackers, equipped with rocks and Molotov cocktails

The chronology below is a continuation of the reports we have published in recent months based on information received via the Tayar Security Report, with some editing and annotating by us. Yehudit Tayar produces her invaluable bulletins on the basis of first-responder, police and army reports.

Friday November 30, 2012

• Halhul Bypass Road adjacent to Highway 60: An Israeli vehicle is attacked by rock-throwing Arabs at the exact spot where Asher Palmer and his infant son Yonatan HY"D were murdered in September 2011 ["25-Sep-11: "Only" rock throwers - but now a father and his infant son are dead"] This time, one person is lightly injured and given medical care at the scene.

Sunday December 2, 2012

• Near Anbata, east of Tul Karem: Several Israeli vehicles come under rock attack by Arabs; damage is limited this time to property loss.
• The Benjamin region close to Hizma: Several Israeli vehicles come under rock attack by Arabs.
• Between Hawara Checkpoint and Tapuah Junction: Several Israeli vehicles come under rock and Molotov cocktail attack by Arabs. There is resultant property damage.
• Between the community of Adam and the Hizma Crossing in the Benjamin region near the northern entrance to Jerusalem: Ongoing heavy rock attacks on Israeli vehicles result in a traffic accident
• South of Nablus/Shechem near Hawara: Several Israeli vehicles come under rock attack by Arabs.
• Route 443 in the Benjamin region, a major intercity highway running between the coastal plane and Jerusalem: In the vicinity of Bet Horon and the village of A-Tira: Several Israeli vehicles come under rock attack by Arabs.
• Between the Arab village of Azun and the Israeli community of Ma'aleh Shomron: Several Israeli vehicles come under rock attack by Arabs.

Monday December 3, 2012

• Between Shavei Shomron and Einav in the Shomron region: An Arab driver deliberately crashes his vehicle into an IDF military jeep, causing the jeep to crash and overturn. Four security personnel re injured.  The Arab driver, armed with an ax, approaches the Israelis and is shot and killed. [See also our post: "3-Dec-12 [UPDATED]: Ax-wielding Palestinian Arab is stopped by Israeli soldiers this morning"]

Tuesday December 4, 2012

• Near El Arub on the Gush Etzion-Hevron highway: Two Molotov cocktails are hurled at Israeli vehicles. No serious injuries or damage.

Wednesday December 5, 2012

• Near Beit El in the Benjamin region: Two Molotov cocktails are burled at an Israeli passenger bus. No serious injuries or damage.
• Massive rock attacks occur near Ma'aleh Shomron, and in the vicinity of Ariel.

Thursday December 6, 2012

• At Shavei Shomron Junction: An IDF jeep comes under attack by Arabs armed with Molotov cocktails.
• Near Hawara, an Israel bus carrying school students comes under rock attack by Arabs, causing property damage.
• At the Hizma Crossing in the Benjamin region: the driver of an Israeli bus reports his vehicle came under rock attack the communities of Rachelim and Eli.
• On the Gush Etzion-Hevron highway near Beit Ummar: Arabs subject Israeli vehicles, including buses, to sustained rock and boulder attacks. Though there are no injuries,there is significant property damage, including damage to vehicles.
• Hevron: In Kikar Hashoter ("Policeman's Square") IDF soldiers come under attack by a mob of some 150 Arabs armed with rocks and Molotov cocktails. The soldiers disperse the attackers.
• Hevron: An IDF patrol is attacked by police officers of the Palestinian Authority using their fists, while non-uniformed Arabs throw rocks. The IDF force retreats under a hail of rocks.

Friday December 7, 2012

• West of Nablus/Shechem: Violence directed at Israelis by Arabs. Two IDF soldiers are injured by rocks hurled at them; one suffers a suspected fracture of the arm. Another suffers facial injuries and lacerations. A third soldier suffers burn injuries from an exploding grenade thrown at him. IDF soldiers from the 76 Brigade of the Engineering Corps are evacuated to Beilinson Hospital in Petach Tikvah for treatment.
• On the Gush Etzion-Hevron highway at Beit Ummar: Ongoing violent attacks by Arabs directed against Israeli vehicles result in one driver suffering head injury from rocks hurled at her vehicle; she manages to continue driving until she reaches Karmei Zur where she is treated by an IDF ambulance crew and taken to hospital by Magen David Adom. Damage is caused to Israeli vehicles including buses. IDF forces disperse the agitators into the village.

Saturday December 8, 2012

• North-west of Ramallah near El Moiyer: Explosive devices are found on the road and inside a pipe on the road. IDF bomb squad sappers are called in and they safely dispose of the threats. 
• On the Gush Etzion-Hevron highway at Beit Ummar: Several Israeli vehicles come under rock attack by Arabs.

Sunday December 9, 2012

• Azun Junction: A Molotov cocktail is thrown by Arabs. No injuries or damage.
• The road running between Har Homa and Tekoa in Jerusalem's southern suburbs: An Israeli bus comes under rock attack by Arabs near Herodian Square, causing damage but no injuries.
• Near Azun: Israeli vehicles and buses are attacked by Arabs armed with rocks and Molotov cocktails.
• Near Hawara: Molotov cocktails is hurled at an Israeli vehicle.
• The tunnel road running south from Jerusalem and under Bethlehem: Several Israeli vehicles come under rock attack by Arabs; no injuries but there is property damage.

Tuesday December 11, 2012

• Between Nili and Na'aleh in the Benjamin region: Molotov cocktail is hurled at an Israeli vehicle.

Wednesday December 12, 2012 (today)

• North of Ofra in the Mateh Binyamin region: Several Israeli vehicles come under rock attack by Arabs; no injuries but there is property damage.
• On the Gush Etzion-Hevron highway near Beit Ummar: Arabs subject an Israeli passenger bus to rock and boulder attack.

Postscript from Yehudit Tayar: "These reports are translated and publicized by Hatzalah Yehudah and Shomron with the clearance and confirmation of the IDF. Hatzalah Yehudah and Shomron is a voluntary emergency medical organization with over 500 volunteer doctors, paramedics, medics who are on call 24/7 and work along with the IDF, 669 IAF Airborn Rescue, the security officers and personal throughout Yesha and the Jordan Valley, and with MDA. We, the volunteers of Hatzalah Yehudah and Shomron go out to rescue anyone who needs our emergency medical assistance; including civilians, military and Arabs also those within the PA territories. (with IDF presence) To us a life is precious and we go out at risk leaving home and family or stopping on the road to rescue anyone in need."

23-Feb-12: Wishing for life (No one was killed so why give it even a moment's thought, right?)

This striking image of the moment of impact appears on the
Ynet website today. In a matter of hours, some of the photos
captured by the cameramen described in Zehava's short testimony
(men who stood by, as they customarily do in this part of the world,
waiting for a picture with some blood and/or drama) begin to appear.

This is written (translated from the original Hebrew - hat tip to Yisrael) by the terrified woman in the photo at right.

This past Tuesday, 28 Shvat, February 21, I was returning home to Karmei Tzur from Efrat where I work. At Gush Etzion Junction, I collect a female hitchhiker who got into a back seat since the front passenger seat was where our infant seat was affixed. What luck. While traveling between El-Aroub and Bet-Omar on the ascent, I noticed a car approaching from the opposite direction with a damaged front window from a rock that must have previously landed.  I naively presumed that that was the result of an old incident that hadn't yet been fixed.
When I came close to the gas station at Bet-Omar (a location that usually requires a driver's attention due to wrongly parked taxis, bypassing and pulling out into the highway in a careless manner), I observed a man running across the road from right to left.  At first, I thought that this was a soldier with a rifle and I slowed down to take in what was happening. Then I noticed dozens of people, old, young and teenagers, congregating on my right. It became apparent that the "soldier with a rifle" was actually a photographer with a camera.  He was seeking a better picture angle to snap away at what was about to happen. On my left were at least two other photographers, waiting for the action.
I should emphasize that I was not the first victim and other cars had already been stoned. So these press photographers were well aware what was happening and was about to happen to me. None of them, it seems, thought to call for assistance from the police or IDF, none of whom were present.
Knowing I had no choice but to continue and surely not stop - for otherwise, if I had slowed down, I would have been trapped and blocked off - the only thing in my mind was to get home and not be caught at that crossing.
It was difficult to pass since the rocks were flying from a distance of just a few feet from my car... 'zero-range' as we say.  The rioters clearly could see that the car contained two young females, and that we were completely defenseless.
We were hit by a large number of rocks. My view was blocked by the cracked windshield glass. All I could so was concentrate on getting out of there as fast as possible. At the time, as well as at this moment of writing, I did not fully grasp the danger of the situation we were in.
Only when I got home did I realize that the entire front end of the car was covered with shattered glass, including me, the infant seat, the back seat, everything. There was plenty of damage to the sides of our car.  At least eight large rocks and cement blocks had hit my vehicle. I learned that the rock-throwing continued for a good few minutes afterwards with the damage to other vehicles and psychological damage to the drivers and passengers.
I had to tell my children what happened in a normal, non-hysterical fashion so as to prepare them for further conversations that they would likely hear from grown-ups talking about this.
I have never before experienced such a serious and difficult incident as this. I pray it is my last. We have been living in Karmei Tzur for the past eight years. Now I know first-hand experience and with certainty that rock-throwings happen all the time, especially on Highway 60 between Gush Etzion junction and Halhoul.  My first-grade son's school bus has also been stoned.
Another point: these terrorists had no qualms about leaving their faces uncovered during this attempt to murder.
We try to overcome the fear and to live our everyday life.  We are believing people, a people with faith.  After an event like this, we will pronounce the customary Gomel benediction: "Blessed is He who Who bestows good things on those unworthy, and has bestowed on me every goodness". We believe in goodness, and that it will overcome evil.
We only pray and hope that people in Israel and around the world will finally recognize the truth, that our enemies, the Arabs who fight us, wish for evil. They want destruction while we wish for good and want peace, even with our neighbors. We wish for life.
Zehava Weiss
Karmei Tzur

You might also want to consider the comments of Elder of Ziyon ("A popular resistance brick harmlessly hurled at evil Zionist woman") here.

Here at This Ongoing War, we have tried in the past to capture the madness of giving the rock-and-cement-block-throwing thugs the benefit of a relaxed liberality. Please look at "5-Dec-11: Attempted murder by rock", "6-Oct-11: Those rock throwing "youths" are proliferating", and "25-Sep-11: "Only" rock throwers - but now a father and his infant son are dead".

How does the law deal with stone-age attempted murderers in your community? How would it treat photographers who stand on the side, watching the assault take shape and then recording the death and injuries that follow?