Op-ed in official PA daily praises murderer of 3 Israelis, justifies his attack because Israel "murdered" Palestinains first
Headline: “Your home is a high castle in the gardens of Palestinian memory”
Excerpt of an op-ed by Yahya Rabah, regular columnist for the official PA daily
“The first news item that I read yesterday morning (Wednesday) [Aug. 16, 2017] was that the Israeli occupation forces destroyed the home of the family of Omar Al-Abd (i.e., terrorist, murdered 3), who carried out the operation (i.e., terror attack) in the Halamish settlement, which is in (sic., near) the village of Kubar in the Ramallah sub-district. The objective of this operation was 3 settlers, thieves of the Palestinian land, in response to the death of Martyrs (Shahids) at the Al-Aqsa Mosque plazas who were shot by the Israeli occupation soldiers (refers to three terrorists who murdered 2 Israelis on the Temple Mount; see note below –Ed.).
I immediately remembered that the Israeli occupation is the first to incite to murder and that it is the first to punish for murder, because it views matters in a one-sided, mistaken, and aggressive manner. It does not even respond to the calls of many Israelis who have demanded that the punishment of home destruction also be implemented against the Zionist terror activists, such as the murderers of Muhammad Abu Khdeir (see note below –Ed.), who covered his body with gasoline and then ignited it; those who burned the Dawabsheh family, who completely destroyed [the family] (one child survived -Ed.) and danced a Talmudic (i.e., Jewish) dance around the bodies (sic., there is no evidence for this claim and the case has yet to be resolved; see note below); and the murderer of Abd Al-Fattah Al-Sharif (i.e., terrorist, stabbed 1), Israeli soldier [Elor] Azaria, who killed him with a bullet after he was wounded and left to bleed (see note below –Ed.)…
We the Palestinians oppose murder, because we are its first victim. I remember [from] when I was a small child massacres that were carried out by [Ariel] Sharon, who was commander of [Commando] Unit 101 (i.e., a special cross-border counter-terror unit in the early years of the state), including the massacre of tuberculosis patients at the hospital for tuberculosis patients (sic., there is no evidence for this claim) in the east of the Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip (refers to an incident in August 1953 when Egypt occupied Gaza, in which the unit came under fire on a mission and ended up killing 43 civilians at the camp –Ed.). When terror reigns supreme in the State of Israel, what do they expect?
As for you, youth from Kubar, Omar Al-Abd – your name has been perpetuated in the Palestinian wedding songs, and we will build you and your family a home even if they destroy it a thousand times, as is happening in the village of Al-Araqeeb in the Negev (i.e., an illegal Bedouin village that has been demolished and rebuilt numerous times). We will continue to insist on your innocence, because they are the ones who are constantly inciting to murder… Their crimes of murder are directed towards Palestinians because they are Palestinians, while we hate the occupation because it is an occupation.”
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Omar Al-Abd – 19-year-old Palestinian terrorist who stabbed and murdered 3 Israelis - Yosef, Haya, and Elad Salomon - and severely injured 1 - Tova Salomon - as they sat at their Sabbath dinner table in Halamish, north of Ramallah, on July 21, 2017. Al-Abd was shot and wounded by a neighbor and taken into Israeli custody, receiving necessary medical treatment in an Israeli hospital.
Before committing the attack, Al-Abd wrote in his "will" on Facebook that he was taking his knife to respond to what was happening at the Al-Aqsa Mosque and did not expect to return. A week earlier, a terror attack was carried out at the Temple Mount in which 2 Israelis were murdered. Following the attack Israel closed the Temple Mount for two days and reopened it with metal detectors at the entrance to the holy site. Palestinians interpreted these measures as an “aggression” and “attack” against the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Muhammad Ahmad Muhammad Jabarin, Muhammad Hamed Abd Al-Latif Jabarin, and Muhammad Ahmad Mufaddal Jabarin - Israeli Arab terrorists aged 29, 19, and 19, who shot from the Temple Mount at Israeli policemen, murdering 2 Israeli Druze border policemen - Haiel Stawi and Kamil Shnaan, on July 14, 2017. Two of the terrorists were shot and killed by other policemen during the attack. The third terrorist was shot and killed while trying to flee.
Muhammad Abu Khdeir - Palestinian teen kidnapped and murdered by Israeli extremists in Jerusalem on July 2, 2014, in revenge for the kidnapping and murder of Israeli teens Eyal Yifrach, Gilad Shaar and Naftali Fraenkel in the West Bank on June 12. Following Abu Khdeir’s murder, Palestinians took to the streets of East Jerusalem in violent and continuous protests. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli ministers immediately condemned the revenge murder in the strongest terms. Israeli police arrested six Israeli suspects on July 6 of whom three confessed to murdering Khdeir. One of the murderers, Yosef Ben-David, is serving 1 life sentence and an additional 20 years. His two accomplices, both unnamed minors, are serving 1 life sentence and 21 years respectively.
Duma arson attack - On July 31, 2015, two Palestinian houses in the West Bank village of Duma were set afire by Molotov cocktails thrown through their windows. 18-month-old Ali Dawabsheh was murdered in this attack, as was his father, Saad Dawabsheh and mother, Reham Dawabsheh, who both died of their injuries later. The only survivor of the attack was the couple’s other son, 4-year-old Ahmad, who suffered burns on 60% of his body and was treated in Israel. Israeli leaders and citizens from all sectors of society condemned this attack, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas that all Israelis were disgusted by the crime, adding, “We will not countenance terrorism of any kind.” He ordered the security forces "to use all means at their disposal to apprehend the murderers and bring them to justice forthwith." Israeli Police has treated the attack as a nationalistic crime carried out by Jewish extremists in revenge for Palestinian terror attacks. In early December 2015, Israeli police arrested several Jewish extremists who were believed to have been involved in the attack, and in January 2016, Israel indicted 21-year-old Amiram Ben Uliel, a member of the radical Jewish group “Hilltop Youth,” with three counts of murder, attempted murder, arson and conspiracy to commit a nationalistically-motivated crime. Ben Uliel confessed to police that he carried out the attack in revenge for the murder of Malachi Rosenfeld, an Israeli who was shot and murdered in a terror attack in the West Bank. Ben Uliel's defense has claimed that his confession was made under torture and suspicions have been raised that the arson and three other subsequent arson attacks against other Dawabshe family members are part of a family feud. Ben Uliel's trial is still pending. A minor whose name remains under a police gag order was also charged.
Abd Al-Fattah Al-Sharif – 21-year-old Palestinian terrorist who, together with an accomplice, 21-year-old terrorist Ramzi Aziz Al-Qasrawi, stabbed and injured Israeli soldiers on March 24, 2016, in Hebron. The accomplice was shot and killed by Israeli soldiers and Al-Sharif was shot and wounded. Then, while lying on the ground, Al-Sharif was shot in the head and killed by another Israeli soldier, Elor Azaria. The shooting was condemned by some Israeli officials as unnecessary use of force and defended by others as justified out of fear the terrorist was wearing an explosives belt. Azaria was convicted of manslaughter in January 2017 and sentenced to 18 months in prison. Azaria appealed the conviction, but his appeal was rejected by a military court of appeals on July 30, 2017.
Excerpt of an op-ed by Yahya Rabah, regular columnist for the official PA daily
“The first news item that I read yesterday morning (Wednesday) [Aug. 16, 2017] was that the Israeli occupation forces destroyed the home of the family of Omar Al-Abd (i.e., terrorist, murdered 3), who carried out the operation (i.e., terror attack) in the Halamish settlement, which is in (sic., near) the village of Kubar in the Ramallah sub-district. The objective of this operation was 3 settlers, thieves of the Palestinian land, in response to the death of Martyrs (Shahids) at the Al-Aqsa Mosque plazas who were shot by the Israeli occupation soldiers (refers to three terrorists who murdered 2 Israelis on the Temple Mount; see note below –Ed.).
I immediately remembered that the Israeli occupation is the first to incite to murder and that it is the first to punish for murder, because it views matters in a one-sided, mistaken, and aggressive manner. It does not even respond to the calls of many Israelis who have demanded that the punishment of home destruction also be implemented against the Zionist terror activists, such as the murderers of Muhammad Abu Khdeir (see note below –Ed.), who covered his body with gasoline and then ignited it; those who burned the Dawabsheh family, who completely destroyed [the family] (one child survived -Ed.) and danced a Talmudic (i.e., Jewish) dance around the bodies (sic., there is no evidence for this claim and the case has yet to be resolved; see note below); and the murderer of Abd Al-Fattah Al-Sharif (i.e., terrorist, stabbed 1), Israeli soldier [Elor] Azaria, who killed him with a bullet after he was wounded and left to bleed (see note below –Ed.)…
We the Palestinians oppose murder, because we are its first victim. I remember [from] when I was a small child massacres that were carried out by [Ariel] Sharon, who was commander of [Commando] Unit 101 (i.e., a special cross-border counter-terror unit in the early years of the state), including the massacre of tuberculosis patients at the hospital for tuberculosis patients (sic., there is no evidence for this claim) in the east of the Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip (refers to an incident in August 1953 when Egypt occupied Gaza, in which the unit came under fire on a mission and ended up killing 43 civilians at the camp –Ed.). When terror reigns supreme in the State of Israel, what do they expect?
As for you, youth from Kubar, Omar Al-Abd – your name has been perpetuated in the Palestinian wedding songs, and we will build you and your family a home even if they destroy it a thousand times, as is happening in the village of Al-Araqeeb in the Negev (i.e., an illegal Bedouin village that has been demolished and rebuilt numerous times). We will continue to insist on your innocence, because they are the ones who are constantly inciting to murder… Their crimes of murder are directed towards Palestinians because they are Palestinians, while we hate the occupation because it is an occupation.”
Click to view bulletin
Omar Al-Abd – 19-year-old Palestinian terrorist who stabbed and murdered 3 Israelis - Yosef, Haya, and Elad Salomon - and severely injured 1 - Tova Salomon - as they sat at their Sabbath dinner table in Halamish, north of Ramallah, on July 21, 2017. Al-Abd was shot and wounded by a neighbor and taken into Israeli custody, receiving necessary medical treatment in an Israeli hospital.
Before committing the attack, Al-Abd wrote in his "will" on Facebook that he was taking his knife to respond to what was happening at the Al-Aqsa Mosque and did not expect to return. A week earlier, a terror attack was carried out at the Temple Mount in which 2 Israelis were murdered. Following the attack Israel closed the Temple Mount for two days and reopened it with metal detectors at the entrance to the holy site. Palestinians interpreted these measures as an “aggression” and “attack” against the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Muhammad Ahmad Muhammad Jabarin, Muhammad Hamed Abd Al-Latif Jabarin, and Muhammad Ahmad Mufaddal Jabarin - Israeli Arab terrorists aged 29, 19, and 19, who shot from the Temple Mount at Israeli policemen, murdering 2 Israeli Druze border policemen - Haiel Stawi and Kamil Shnaan, on July 14, 2017. Two of the terrorists were shot and killed by other policemen during the attack. The third terrorist was shot and killed while trying to flee.
Muhammad Abu Khdeir - Palestinian teen kidnapped and murdered by Israeli extremists in Jerusalem on July 2, 2014, in revenge for the kidnapping and murder of Israeli teens Eyal Yifrach, Gilad Shaar and Naftali Fraenkel in the West Bank on June 12. Following Abu Khdeir’s murder, Palestinians took to the streets of East Jerusalem in violent and continuous protests. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli ministers immediately condemned the revenge murder in the strongest terms. Israeli police arrested six Israeli suspects on July 6 of whom three confessed to murdering Khdeir. One of the murderers, Yosef Ben-David, is serving 1 life sentence and an additional 20 years. His two accomplices, both unnamed minors, are serving 1 life sentence and 21 years respectively.
Duma arson attack - On July 31, 2015, two Palestinian houses in the West Bank village of Duma were set afire by Molotov cocktails thrown through their windows. 18-month-old Ali Dawabsheh was murdered in this attack, as was his father, Saad Dawabsheh and mother, Reham Dawabsheh, who both died of their injuries later. The only survivor of the attack was the couple’s other son, 4-year-old Ahmad, who suffered burns on 60% of his body and was treated in Israel. Israeli leaders and citizens from all sectors of society condemned this attack, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas that all Israelis were disgusted by the crime, adding, “We will not countenance terrorism of any kind.” He ordered the security forces "to use all means at their disposal to apprehend the murderers and bring them to justice forthwith." Israeli Police has treated the attack as a nationalistic crime carried out by Jewish extremists in revenge for Palestinian terror attacks. In early December 2015, Israeli police arrested several Jewish extremists who were believed to have been involved in the attack, and in January 2016, Israel indicted 21-year-old Amiram Ben Uliel, a member of the radical Jewish group “Hilltop Youth,” with three counts of murder, attempted murder, arson and conspiracy to commit a nationalistically-motivated crime. Ben Uliel confessed to police that he carried out the attack in revenge for the murder of Malachi Rosenfeld, an Israeli who was shot and murdered in a terror attack in the West Bank. Ben Uliel's defense has claimed that his confession was made under torture and suspicions have been raised that the arson and three other subsequent arson attacks against other Dawabshe family members are part of a family feud. Ben Uliel's trial is still pending. A minor whose name remains under a police gag order was also charged.
Abd Al-Fattah Al-Sharif – 21-year-old Palestinian terrorist who, together with an accomplice, 21-year-old terrorist Ramzi Aziz Al-Qasrawi, stabbed and injured Israeli soldiers on March 24, 2016, in Hebron. The accomplice was shot and killed by Israeli soldiers and Al-Sharif was shot and wounded. Then, while lying on the ground, Al-Sharif was shot in the head and killed by another Israeli soldier, Elor Azaria. The shooting was condemned by some Israeli officials as unnecessary use of force and defended by others as justified out of fear the terrorist was wearing an explosives belt. Azaria was convicted of manslaughter in January 2017 and sentenced to 18 months in prison. Azaria appealed the conviction, but his appeal was rejected by a military court of appeals on July 30, 2017.
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