Yet again, Palestinians have just celebrated the horrific killing of Israeli civilians, including a six-year-old child, in Gaza and the West Bank. More on these celebrations can be found here: “Palestinians celebrate killing of Israelis in terror attack, media headlines call victims ‘settlers,'” by Dion J. Pierre, Algemeiner, Feb. 10, 2023:
Images circulated on social media Friday of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza celebrating a terror attack in Jerusalem that killed two Israelis hours before the start of Shabbat on Friday morning.
In a video posted on Twitter, a man orders Gazan children to hand out pastries to pedestrians in honor of 31-year-old Hussein Karak, who rammed his car into a bus stop in East Jerusalem, killing six. – while the elderly Yaakov Peli and twenty-year-old newly-married Alter Shlomo Lederman wounded five people. Images were also shown of members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) distributing sweets to Gazar Khan Yunis.
These sweets – pastries and candies – are always distributed by Palestinians after a particularly satisfying terrorist attack on Israelis. Sometimes it is more than sweet, when large numbers of Israelis are killed. When seven Israeli civilians were killed leaving a synagogue in Neve Ya’akov in early February, Palestinians handed out pastries, honked car horns in frenzied cheers, set off fireworks and indulged in profuse Allahu-Akbar. Much mafficking. And a good time was had by all.
“The heroic action in Jerusalem is a natural response to all the occupation’s crimes against the Palestinian people, the latest of which is the massacre in the Aqabat Jaber camp,” Hamas spokesman Hazem Kassem said Friday, citing the IDF operation to neutralize it. About half a dozen terrorists who plotted to attack an Israeli restaurant in January.
Palestinian Hussain Karake made a “heroic move” when a group of Israelis, most of them mothers and children, crashed their car while standing at a bus stop. Among them was a six-year-old boy and his eight-year-old brother. The six-year-old died, and the eight-year-old is now fighting for his life. A 20-year-old youth who was returning home for Shabbat was also killed. Several others were seriously injured. A “heroic action” indeed.
In another celebratory statement, the Islamic Jihad Movement (PIJ) said, “We confirm that this blessed operation, which has healed the hearts of our people, came as a natural and legitimate response to the crimes of occupation.”
Of course. Nothing heals the Palestinian heart like the sight of dead Israelis. The killing is a “natural and legitimate response” to the crimes of the Zionists, who stubbornly refuse to give the Palestinians what they want and deserve – a Palestinian state “from the river to the sea.”
After the attacks escalated amid Palestinian violence against Israelis, Karak’s uncle told the Palestine Post Network that Karak “loved Palestine all his life, and he suffered a serious injury to his back.”
I don’t know why his back pain is significant. Perhaps this is meant to indicate that even though Karak’s back was sore, he was still determined to go through with his heroic deed. A determined martyr for Palestine.
Kara, who lives in a rented house in Issavia – a Palestinian neighborhood in East Jerusalem – was a “mentally disturbed” person who had been removed from a psychiatric hospital for a few days, according to Israeli public correspondent Gilly Cohen of broadcaster KAN. In addition, Hebrew outlet N12 reported, there is a history of praising terrorists on social media, posting “glorification of pure souls” referring to those who committed previous atrocities.
Where is the evidence that Karak’s killing was the product of a “mentally disturbed” individual rather than a natural expression of the jihadist ideology that inspired millions of Muslims? He praised the terrorists on social media, but in this he was no different from hundreds of thousands of other Palestinians, all of whom wished “glory to the pure souls” of their “martyrs”, those who died while killing Israelis. External evidence suggests not mental disorder, but an understandable desire to make a mark on himself as a “martyr” and, what’s more, to ensure that his family would receive generous lifelong support from him, as a result of his “heroic actions.” The Palestinian Authority, as part of its “pay-for-sale” program.
Meanwhile, various Arab-language media outlets described the Israeli victims as “settlers”.
Roa News, a Jordanian outlet, ran an article about the incident with a headline, “Two settlers killed in raid on occupied car park in Jerusalem,” while a Palestinian outlet said, “Martyrdom of executioner. Two settlers killed in run-over operation in Jerusalem and others was injured.” The Palestine ChronicleAn organization based in Mountlake Terrace, Washington, reported that Kara “slammed her car into a group of illegal Jewish settlers” after saying that Israel “claimed” that she did it.
“Settler.” “Illegal Settlers.” Is a six-year-old child “present”? Various Arabic language media called him by this name. They never revealed his age. Is anyone still small enough for a teddy bear to be a “present” who deserves to be killed? And her eight-year-old brother, now in a critical condition, was also described as a “presenter”. Remember: this was a “heroic action”. There is no need to give the age of those “settlers”. Not everyone will be affected.
In the U.S., a CNN headline said, “Two dead, including child after car hits Jerusalem bus stop,” prompting criticism from Israel’s foreign ministry.
“It was not a self-driving car @CNN,” the ministry said on Twitter. “Driver A Palestinian Terrorist *Deliberately* Drives Into A Bus Stop Full Of Children And Families Traveling Before Shabbat.”
What explains — without excuse — CNN’s headlines that give the car agency and refuse to lean toward killing the driver? “Two dead…people hit by car”? It will never do that. Here’s what to do: “Palestinians drive car into Israelis, killing two, including six-year-old child.”
Think, CNN. Just think before you head.
And while we have you on the line, how about doing a story about how the Palestinians pull out all the stops to celebrate the killing of Israelis? For many in your audience, this will prove most instructive.