Why this Bloody Palestinian Stabbing Intifada?

For the past few weeks, dozens of innocent Israelis living their daily humdrum lives have become victims to surprise knife attacks by Palestinians. Usually the attacker whips out a sharp butcher knife and aims for the jugular of his or her (there are also female stabbers too) in an attempt to sever this important vein so that the victim bleeds to death. Sometimes, they aim for the back, which is a larger and easier target, since the victim is looking the other way, or the stomach, if facing the victim. Palestinians have been circulating anatomical diagrams of the 'best' anatomical places to insert a knife.

 

Israeli security has classified these attackers as 'lone wolves,' persons not hitherto known as a security risk and not associated with one of the militant Palestinian organizations or having any support infrastructure. What had originally been assumed to be a temporary spate of attacks has now turned into a wave of dozens of attacks not only in the 'occupied' territories but also in major cities of Israel. The Israeli victims have been not only soldiers but also civilian women and children on the streets of Israel. A couple of days ago a Palestinian stabbed an 80-year-old woman. How could this frail old woman have been conceived to have been an epitome of the occupation in this deranged attacker's mind?

In the last few days. the attacks seem to be tapering off, but there are still stabbings and attacks with other weapons (such as cars), and there is a continued risk of the wave turning into a tsunami. It is valid to ask, why has this stabbing intifada occurred?

 

On the Palestinian side, there are a myriad of explanations: the occupation, frustration, rage, no hope, defiling Al-Aqsa mosque, Israel's changing the status quo in the Al-Aqsa compound. But we have heard all this before, and all these charges existed even before the current intifada. So what is different?

 

On the Israeli side, most frequently cited is the virulent anti-Israel propaganda generated by all the Palestinian media as well as the consistent lies, which can be loosely grouped under the term 'incitement.' Most prominent recent lie is that of the Palestinian Authority President Abbas accusing the Israelis of killing a terrorist Palestinian 13-year-old boy who knifed an Israeli boy riding on his bicycle. The next day, Israeli media showed the Palestinian terrorist boy in hospital recuperating from his wounds. Of course. there were no apologies nor any corrections forthcoming from the Palestinian side, although they did find it necessary to doctor the English transcript of Abbas' speech, which was distributed to the English-speaking media. But the truth got out; the Palestinians couldn't fake the audio recording. But the Palestinians have been lying for years, even before the current intifada.  So what is different?

 

If we look at the ages of these 'lone-wolf' attackers, we see that they are rather young, generally in their teens or early twenties (some have been older, of course). The youngest was thirteen-years-old, and he was accompanied by his 15-year-old cousin, who killed and was killed ny Israeli security. In other words, this is the Palestinian generation that was educated within the Palestinian educational system after the Oslo Accords beginning in 1993. Brought up on a full syllabus of hatred, military kindergartens and martial youth movements, jihad, Islamic martyr (shahid) glorification, perverted history, all of which has been incessantly pumped into them and reinforced year-after-year; the result should be no surprise. What this young generation has 'learned' in the Palestinian educational system has been exchanged among themselves in the social media and exacerbated by Palestine Authority and Islamic incitement in the media, mosques and other institutions. So, it should be no surprise that these 'lone wolves' had no obvious connection with the traditional militant and terror organizations.

Palestinian Media Watch director Itamar Marcus presented his organization’s report on Palestinian Authority education to the Israeli Knesset a few days ago. The following is the the Jerusalem Post's summary from the Knesset discussion:

The report documents that in formal and informal educational frameworks, killers of Israelis are portrayed as heroes and role models, and that children are taught that Israel will eventually be replaced by “Palestine.”

At least 25 Palestinian Authority schools are named after terrorists; three are named after Dalal Mughrabi, who led the most lethal terrorist attack in Israeli history in 1978, killing 37 civilians, 12 of them children.

Marcus showed the MKs (Members of Knesset) a film from PA television, in which a student expressed pride “to attend the Dalal Mughrabi School, which bears this pioneering name,” and another student said her “life’s ambition is to reach the level that the martyr fighter Dalal Mughrabi reached.”

Another clip from televised news in the PA showed a boy saying he learned in school to “fight the Jews, kill them and defeat them,” and another told children that Jews are “Satan with a tail.”

The report also contains chapters on incitement in Palestinian textbooks, educational materials glorifying Hitler, and the PA policy of blocking joint peace-building activities between Palestinian and Israeli children.

Marcus explained that the messages Palestinian children are receiving are nationalist – that Israel is not legitimate on any borders and its existence since 1948 is an occupation – and anti-Semitic – that Jews are evil by nature, descendants of monkeys and pigs, and fated to be killed by Muslims.

Does anyone now think that there could be any hope for peace with this young  Palestinian generation? Would any of these young Palestinians honor a peace agreement signed by the octogenarian leader the Palestine Authority?

Dov Lipman on Jews Stabbing Arabs: What's Really the Message?

In his article in the Jerusalem Post today, Dov Lipman has indeed expounded a learned essay. We are treated to excerpts and references to Babylonian Talmud Tractate Sanhedrin 39, last week’s Torah portion, the Passover Seder, the Hallel prayer, Commentaries, Kaf HaChayim Orach Chayim 685:29, High Holiday prayers, and Proverbs 24:17. From all this, Lipman concludes that attacking people simply because they are Arab or look like Arabs is foreign to Judaism. Hmm. No argument here.

But is this really Dov Lipman's message to us in these agonizing times? But wait! There is more to come. Lipman writes:

I conclude with the words penned by MK Yair Lapid after a Jew took revenge for the recent stabbings by stabbing random, innocent Arabs in Dimona last week.

“Whoever does this doesn’t understand what Judaism is, and what it means to be a Jew. Whoever does this damages Jews, damages the state, and damages our security. Because there is one principle which we have always guarded, even in the most difficult of times: We will not be like them.

We will not be like the terrorists. We will not adopt their disgusting and murderous values.”

Ah, I think that I am getting the message now. This eloquent statement by that eminent Judaic scholar, Yair Lapid, on the essence of Judaism has convinced me. Yes! I definitely should vote for Yair Lapid for Prime Minster in the coming election.

Hey, Dov, have I figured it out?