Palestinian expert on PA TV: Knife attacks are not terror, and glorifies "Martyr" who murdered 3 civilians

Official PA TV program Panorama of the Hour, hosting Shaker Shabat, an expert on Israeli affairs

Palestinian expert on Israeli affairs, Shaker Shabat: “What puts Israel in an ‎embarrassing situation now, and what prevents it from dealing with the intifada, is that ‎it is individuals of a somewhat peaceful character [who carry it out]. A knife is not ‎considered a firearm and [stabbing] is not classified as an act of terror. Israel is in a ‎crisis because the one who confronts the Israeli army and the settlers is the ‎Palestinian civilian, with a knife, or even with his exposed body, or with a screwdriver ‎or scissors.”‎

Official PA TV host: “The Israeli security services arrested or executed Martyr (Shahid) Nashat Melhem, who carried out the Dizengoff operation (i.e., Tel Aviv shooting attack, 3 people killed) after [searching for him for] eight days. He disappeared for eight days, and after all that time he was found. [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu congratulates the police and the Israeli Security Agency on his arrest and execution. Perhaps this shows that the Israeli army and police are the ones who executed Martyr Nashat Melhem. What do you think of the change now: Clear backing from Netanyahu, and now the [Israeli] security services have a new law: ‘No to arrest, shoot him immediately and kill him.’

Palestinian expert on Israeli affairs, Shaker Shabat:  “First of all, it must be said that Martyr Nashat Melhem is the 150th Martyr [since the outbreak of the Palestinian uprising in October 2015], and this is important. [He is] not 149. Secondly, this Martyr has special characteristics: On his own, and with a simple weapon, he imposed a curfew on the Tel Aviv area, the center of Israel, and on the central region, called Gush Dan, for a week. Schools were closed, [and] tourism in Tel Aviv was almost eliminated, no one walking around in the streets. They are all careful. They are all alert and looking right and left because Nashat [Malhem] might jump out at them.”

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Note: Presenting the Palestinian attacks as having targeted only Israeli so-called “settlers” and ‎soldiers is incorrect. Stabbing attacks have been carried out all over Israel against ‎civilians, including children, women, and the elderly.‎
Nashat Melhem - 29-year-old Israeli Arab terrorist who carried out a shooting attack, killing 2 Israelis, Alon Bakal and Shimon Ruimi, and wounding 8 others, at Hasimta Bar in Tel Aviv on Jan. 1, 2016. Melhem fled the scene, and later that day killed a taxi driver, Bedouin Israeli Amin Shaaban, in another part of Tel Aviv. A week after the attacks, on Jan. 8, 2016, Israeli security forces tracked down Melhem in a building in his hometown of Arara in the north of Israel. After Melhem opened fire at them, the Israeli security forces shot and killed him.