“They all come intent on violence. Their hordes advance like a desert wind and gather prisoners like sand.” (Habakkuk 1:9)
“Lone-wolf” terrorism in Israel continues while “hunting in pairs” becomes a recognizable phenomenon, with 13 attacks committed by pairs of terrorists since mid-September. Meanwhile, Israeli casualties continue to climb in attacks by Palestinian assailants.
In one of two attacks on Thursday, a 14-year-old girl in the el-Auja village near Jericho approached a pair of police officers who were redirecting traffic around a fallen tree, stabbing one in the shoulder with a kitchen knife before fleeing. The bleeding officer ran after her and arrested her without using his weapon. He was later evacuated to HaEmek Medical Center in Afula.
HaEmek Medical Center in Afula, Israel (Photo by Almog)
Earlier in the day at about 1 a.m., a police vehicle by the Rehalim junction near Ariel was shot a number of times, with one officer inside lightly wounded. Israeli officials were still searching for the shooter by Friday morning. (JPost)
At 5 a.m. on Wednesday morning, an Israeli father of five, Roi Harel, who lives in the Eli settlement of Judea-Samaria was assaulted by two club-wielding Arab teenagers outside his home. Harel was ready to leave the house for reserve duty when he encountered the two 17-year-olds from the Qaryut village near Nablus, which sits about halfway between Jerusalem and Nazareth.
“I opened the door and saw two terrorists with hatred and anger in their eyes,” Harel told Ynet. “They attacked me with clubs and axes, and entered my home.”
They had stuck an 8-inch knife in the front door for later use.
“After a couple of seconds I came to, and I ran after them as they had almost reached my children’s bedrooms,” Harel added. “I screamed to my wife to call the settlement’s guard, the children woke up and cried, but my wife was with them in the bedroom, so they hardly saw anything.”
“I managed to push them [the terrorists] outside the house and locked my door,” Harel added. “I was very shaken. It’s not a simple feeling.”
“If anyone has any doubts as to their intentions, two 17-year-olds came to slaughter me, my wife and my kids,” Harel told Ynet.
Harel was treated for cuts to his head at the Shaare Tzedek Medical Center in Jerusalem. The terrorists were shot dead by soldiers while fleeing.
Palestinian children in Gaza and Judea-Samaria have been indoctrinated since their earliest days with the glorification of violence and the “sainting” of terrorists who die killing Israelis. Perhaps we should find it unsurprising that when they reach their teenage years, a time when confusion and identity issues are most profound, they should choose to use violence to become heroes through terrorism. (Photo by Rusty Stewart)
The incident was followed in the evening by another attack on two Israeli soldiers in the Har Bracha (Mount of Blessing) region of Judea-Samaria.
A pair of terrorists stabbed the soldiers, injuring one lightly in the face and the other moderately, before escaping. The soldiers’ weapons — required to be on a soldier at all times — were first thought stolen but then were found in the guard post nearby.
While searchers scoured the Nablus area on Wednesday, Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan announced opening an emergency headquarters to await security directions. As of Friday evening, the assailants remained at large.
Meanwhile, the incitement and elevation of violence responsible for such violent behavior continue unabated. There are places so violent that even Palestinian forces hesitate to enter.
Late Monday night (February 29), two Israeli soldiers — an army driver and squad commander — said they followed the Waze GPS phone app into the Palestinian Qalandiyah refugee camp near Ramallah, where they were attacked with a firebomb, incinerating the Israelis’ evacuated vehicle.
The residents launched into a frenzied riot, shooting their guns and throwing rocks and firebombs. Israeli troops were deployed to rescue the pair, who fled their vehicle in separate directions, with 10 Israeli officers injured and an armed 22-year-old Palestinian killed in the conflict. (JTA)
A Waze official defended the app saying that the setting which warns of areas that are “dangerous or prohibited for Israelis to drive through” was turned off and that “the driver deviated from the suggested route and, as a result, entered the prohibited area.” (Washington Post)
