Bulldozer Attack in Jerusalem: “He tried to run over anything that moves” July 2, 2008

The Jerusalem Post today breaks the heart-wrenching news: three people were killed and 66 more wounded (1 moderately, the rest “lightly”) when a bulldozer-driving terrorist, 30-year-old Husam Taysir Dwayat from “Southeast Jerusalem” plowed through downtown Jerusalem. His rampage would crush six cars and overturn others, and would demolish a bus in its wake, and would end upon his being killed by a quick-thinking IDF soldier:

Three people were killed and 66 were wounded - one moderately and the rest lightly - on Wednesday afternoon when a bulldozer driver went on a rampage in downtown Jerusalem.

A half-dozen cars were flattened and others were overturned by the Caterpillar vehicle. A bus was also overturned, and another bus was heavily damaged. The attack, at the junction of Jaffa Road and Sarei Yisrael St., set off a panic in the area and left a large swath of damage in the heart of the capital. Traffic was halted, and hundreds of people fled through the streets in panic as medics treated the wounded.

A car was dragged several meters by the bulldozer before being crushed under the vehicle. A baby was pulled out by a passerby before the vehicle was crushed, with the child’s mother still inside.

The rampage would come to an end at the hands of Moshe Plesser and Eli Mizrahi — Plesser only being 18 years of age at the time — who would shoot a combined five rounds at Dwayat, killing him:

As he began running towards the bulldozer, Plesser said that he shouted out to onlookers for a gun. Together with another civilian, Plesser climbed aboard the bulldozer and began wrestling with the driver. “At one point he [the driver] yelled out “Allah Akhbar” [God is great] and stepped on the gas pedal,” Plesser recalled. “I drew the weapon of the civilian who was with me and shot the driver three times in the head. I think I did what is expected from every soldier and citizen.”

Seconds later, a police officer, Eli Mizrahi, climbed aboard the bulldozer and shot the terrorist again, killing him.

…The policeman, Mizrahi, later told reporters at the scene that he had acted “precisely as we were taught to do.”

Mizrahi said he had been on duty with his partner nearby when word of the attack came through and he sped to the scene on his motorbike. He saw a trail of smashed and crushed cars and wounded pedestrians, he said, cocked his gun and dashed toward the bulldozer in which the perpetrator was driving.

An armed Israeli civilian fired first, Mizrahi said, referring to Plesser, but the tractor was still moving, “crushing a car and heading towards more civilians.”

So Mizrahi climbed up to the driver’s cab. “I fired twice. And he was neutralized.”

Ironically, Plesser is the brother-in-law of of Capt. David Shapira, the IDF officer who killed the terrorist who went on a shooting rampage at the Mercaz Harav Yeshiva in March.

Three organizations claimed responsibility for the bulldozer attack - Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade, the militant armed wing of the Fatah movement, the Galilee Freedom Battalion, suspected of being “affiliated with Hezbollah”, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).

Besides the usual outrage at the horrible loss of life, and my heart going out to my fellow Jews who died in the Holy City — here’s why I feel personally played out, betrayed almost, by this particular terror attack: (more…)

Jewish-Muslim Unity… in Kuwait’s Al-Watan! March 11, 2008

It’s about damn time. Baruch Hashem and AlhamduliLl-h for Abdallah Al-Hadlaq.

Writing for the Kuwaiti Al-Watan newspaper, Mr. Al-Hadlaq wrote a scathing opinion piece (Arabic) condemning the “terrorism” of Hamas and Hezbollah in last week’s massacre at Yeshivat Merkaz HaRav in Jerusalem. Mr. Al-Hadlaq, among other things, calls the attack “a barbaric murder of eight children who were engaged in religious study” and says that the “odious and inhuman terror attack exemplifies the extremist and inhuman path of the terror organizations Hamas and Hizbullah.”

Indeed, as the Jerusalem Post notes:

The writer goes on to assert that “the terror attack must prompt the free world to comprehend the magnitude of terrorism and its threats and to realize that a clear and unequivocal stance must be assumed against it. There can be no negotiations with terrorism that indiscriminately aims itself at students, women and babies without any consideration for the means and the targets.”

Contrasting the terror attack with the IDF’s operations in the Gaza Strip, the writer explains that “there is no link between a murderous terrorist act and the inadvertent killing of civilians in response to the firing of rockets by Hamas.”

The piece presented a stark contrast to the main current in the Arab press, which presented almost sweeping praise for the “heroic operation.”

The Google-translated version (which I’m sure does not do the original Arabic piece justice) shows Mr. Al-Hadlaq referring numerous times to Hamas as a terrorist organization, and speaking of the incident as ” الهجوم الارهابي /al’hajoum al’irhabi” — the terrorist attack carried out by the “evil Alliance” of Hamas and Hezbollah.

(On the other hand, here’s a contrasting opinion on Hamas from a local chapter of an American organization.)

Scathing criticism of Hamas — هجمات الارهابي (hajmaat al’irhabi), the terrorist organization — and calling terrorism for what it is — in defense of murdered innocent Jews engaged in the service of G-d. At least one person is standing up for human life — indiscriminately — in the face of a pro-Hamas media deluge.

A brilliant display of unity. Well done, Mr. Al-Hadlaq, and well done, Al-Watan. Kudos. May the anti-terrorist voices only multiply exponentially throughout the Arabic-speaking world, and the world as a whole.

“The floors are littered with holy books covered in blood” March 7, 2008

Only the most accomplished linguist could properly strike a phrase to accurately describe the carnage which occurred in Jerusalem’s Merkaz HaRav yeshiva today. Two Hezbollah-affiliated terrorists from the “Galilee Freedom Battalion” dressed as charedi Orthodox Jews, entered the yeshiva and one opened fire, showering the library with 500-600 bullets.
“The whole building looked like a slaughterhouse. The floor was covered in blood. The students were in class at the time of the attack…”
“The floors are littered with holy books covered in blood.”
– Yehuda Meshi-Zahav, ZAK”A rescue service
When it was over, 8 yeshiva students would be dead, another minyan of ten injured, and the two terrorists dead at the hands of a well-prepared yeshiva student, Yitzchak Dadon, armed with nothing but a rifle and a good vantage point.

Here’s why this story is so particularly disturbing to me — to the point of hysteria — a murder in a place of Torah scholarship says something more horrifying than anything which could happen on a bus.

It is written in Jewish tradition that the Melaveh Malkah meal, eaten by observant Jews at the conclusion of Shabbat, is done in honor of King David, who died on Saturday night, Jewish tradition teaches. It is written that King David knew that he had been decreed to have a short life span (only 70 years, borrowed from Adam’s life, who was supposed to live 1000 years), and that he would die at the conclusion of Shabbat, and it was for this reason that every Saturday night he would celebrate G-d’s keeping him alive by honoring the Shabbat one last time.

However, during the Shabbat, he would still take his own spiritual precautions just to be safe. He would engage exclusively in the study of Torah — because he knew the Torah would protect him from Death. Once, the angel sent to take King David’s soul was exasperated — he knew that he could do nothing while King David was engaged in the study of Torah — and decided to make a noise outside to catch King David off guard. The interruption of study was long enough for him to be able to take King David’s soul, and it was then that he died.

Torah is supposed to protect people. People aren’t supposed to die while holding their volumes of Talmud in their hands. “Holy books covered in blood”? How does this happen? Why isn’t the Torah protecting us?

Stories like this shake me to my core — things like this are supposed to be metaphysical impossibilities. In yeshiva they would tell us stories of how during Gulf War I, one of the most righteous heads of yeshivas would sit on the roof of the yeshiva and learn Torah continuously in hopes that the merit of their learning would protect the students, and those students would be proudly telling these stories, alive at Shabbos tables all over Brooklyn.

Forget the security — metaphysically, how could a terrorist walk into a room full of volumes and volumes of Torah and shoot down 8 people who dedicated a year of their lives to learning them? On the spiritual plane, what breach in our collective soul’s “security fence” was exploited to facilitate such death?

Israel is not Canada, is not Switzerland, is not Taiwan. Its security is not solely in the hands of its military and paramilitary forces, as it is written in Deuteronomy 11, Israel is “a land which the L-rd, your G-d, looks after; His eyes are upon it continually”. When something like this happens in a place of Torah scholarship in the holy city of Jerusalem, when yeshiva guys dedicated to Torah learning spill their lifeblood over the text of Gemara they were just learning, when a room full of prayers requesting life go so pungently replied to with a sharp “no” (on the physical plane) — then one who believes in G-d takes pause.

Hezbollah can not be the only reason this happened — though their murderous evil will be paid back to them by G-d eventually (Mishnah). We must put our minds, hearts, and souls into the spiritual reconnaissance mission we have been called upon — to find out where our “security breach” is, repair it, and come back united in tikkun, because apparently we are in dire straits.

“The Torah, Israel, and the Holy One, Blessed be He are One.” If the Torah is not protecting members of the nation of Israel IN Israel, what does that say?

We must ask ourselves “how did this happen” and prevent, both physically and spiritually, such carnage from ever happening again.

“Just Send Your Children to Die” February 13, 2008

This video of Mahmoud al-Mutawak just defies comment. It’s an excerpt of his pre-suicide bombing video, a video he did with his mother.

Her instructions to mothers throughout the Palestinian Authority? If you want honor, just send your children to die. Teach them “to love martyrdom”.

And this is what All-h wants?

Hamas’ Position On A Two-State Solution, In Case You Forgot October 11, 2006

In case anyone was wondering what Hamas’ position is on the official recognition of the State of Israel, Page A18 of today’s Washington Post clues us in:

In case there was any doubt, Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh spelled out Hamas’s position at a rally last weekend: “I tell you with all honesty, we will not recognize Israel, we will not recognize Israel, we will not recognize Israel.”

[Palestinian President Mahmoud] Abbas responded by threatening, as he has before, to dissolve the Palestinian government or order a referendum. But he lacks the legal authority either to remove Hamas from power or to schedule a vote of any kind.

Just FYI.

Gazans Still Without Power, Water, Sewage Treatment September 10, 2006

Hat tip to Dina from MySpace for turning me on to this.

In the sweltering Middle Eastern heat, hundreds of thousands of Gazan people are still without power after the main power plant in Gaza (providing 140 mW of electricity) was bombed in an Israeli air strike.

The UN’s Office for Humanitarian Affairs notes:

“I am going crazy without electricity. There is even a shortage of candles now – I had to use the two my wife and I had received from our marriage. I worry about [starting a] fire,” said the 36-year-old from Beit Lahiya.

For the past two months, Gaza residents like Aqdeir have lived without a regular supply of electricity after the Israeli military bombed Gaza’s only power station on 28 June.

So they’ll just stay in the dark, right?

The lack of electricity means sewage cannot be treated, increasing the risk of disease spreading, and hospitals cannot function normally. It means ordinary Gazans cannot keep perishable food because their fridges do not work.

At night, they are plunged into complete darkness when the electricity cuts off. They rely on candles and paraffin lamps. Many residents have also been left with an irregular water supply as they need electricity to pump water up from nearby wells or from ground floor level to higher floors in blocks of flats.

No electricity at night, no sewage treatment. Irregular water supply. The basics of human life.

It’s times like this that the UN’s humanitarian efforts are most needed. However, the UNRWA (UN Relief and Works Agency) has complained that due to a lack of access, they can not provide these basic necessities to the people in Gaza:
(more…)

Good going, Hamas! Growing Palestinian Poverty

Ha’aretz reported today about a problem which seems to continually plague the Palestinian people.

A set of politicians who get fame for themselves while ignoring the plight of average citizens. Lest we forget, Hamas came to power largely because of discontent with the culture of political corruption which had come to plague the Arafat regime. (Even a former interior minister of Arafat’s didn’t know where $5 billion had gone.)

Now Hamas seems to be doing the same thing:

A survey by Near East Consulting (NEC) on Sunday showed that about 65 percent of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza live below the poverty line, a reflection of deepening hardship since the Hamas-led government was formed in March.

There has been an average monthly increase of 3 percent in poverty since Hamas came to power,” said Jamil Rabah, director of NEC.

Precisely how bad is it?

The survey defines poverty as a monthly income below NIS 2,000 for a family of four adults and two children.

According to the report, some 38 percent of Palestinians live in extreme hardship, defined as a monthly income below NIS 1,000 for a similar household.

The international community cut off aid to the Palestinian Authority after Hamas, an Islamic militant group sworn to Israel’s destruction, formed a government after winning a general election in January.

More than 165,000 Palestinian government employees have gone largely unpaid since March and began an open-ended strike for wages last week.

38 percent of Palestinians are living on less than 200 dollars a month.

Counting both the West Bank and Gaza, Palestinian unemployment now stands at 50 percent.

Can one place the full blame on economic sanctions? If this is all because of the lack of aid from the US and Europe, then I would question Hamas’ ability to drive economic development in Palestine. Palestinians need jobs, not Qassams. Nationalistic pride does not put the khubz on the table.

How can any employee — civil or private — be expected to live without a paycheck for six months? This is not the fault of any Zionist entity. One writer for Islamic Relief says explicitly, “Travel restrictions have caused over 50% unemployment.” Why is there a sui generis need for Palestinians to be employed by Israeli companies? Where is the business community of Ramallah — and if it does not exist, where is the investment? Ahmadenijad is keen on economic development in Venezuela, moving production of its autos to a plant there. Are there no qualified Palestinians?

Palestine needs investment and jobs. Otherwise, who’s to stop the next demagogue from raising the banner of “the Jews are responsible for your poverty”? Oh wait…