Three things you should know about the terror attack in Har Adar
1. It happened
Those who follow the news about Israel closely will probably have read about the terror attack in Har Adar yesterday morning (Tuesday Sept 26th). It’s not likely you will hear about it on your news.
While CNN and BBC can go on and on for days about an attack in London that kills no one, Jewish lives, especially if they happen to be Israeli Jews, are less “media worthy”. Why is that?
The facts are as follows:
Har Adar is a small Jewish community (aprox 4,000 residents) located near Jerusalem.
The neighboring Arab village, Beit Surik, is under the jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority and yet many of the residents have work permits that enable them to be legally employed in Israeli territory. A number of them, including the terrorist work in the Har Adar community.
The guards at the gate of Har Adar recognized that something was not right about the terrorist and, instead of letting him enter the community like he does almost every day, they ordered him to stop for inspection. That is when he pulled out a gun and shot them at close range.
The terrorist murdered three Israelis and wounded a fourth.
Border Policeman Solomon Gaviriya, from Be’er Yaacov was just 20 years old.
The two additional murdered Israelis were private guards for the community and identified as Or Arish of Har Adar, 25, and Youssef Ottman (an Israeli Arab) from Abu Ghosh.
The doctors declared that the community’s security coordinator who had been wounded from the gun shots will be able to regain full health following the surgery done to repair his wounds.
Border Policeman Solomon Gaviriya, from Be’er Yaacov was just 20 years old.
The two additional murdered Israelis were private guards for the community and identified as Or Arish of Har Adar, 25, and Youssef Ottman (an Israeli Arab) from Abu Ghosh.
The doctors declared that the community’s security coordinator who had been wounded from the gun shots will be able to regain full health following the surgery done to repair his wounds.
2. That sick feeling
Israelis tend to be loud and boisterous. Visitors from abroad usually don’t notice that when there is a news update, the Israelis around them go dead silent. While our visitors blithely continue talking, we are listening. Has anything terrible happened since the last news update?
I don’t want you to be able to understand what that sick feeling is like. I hope you never have that experience...
That sick feeling, I had this morning when I reached for the phone and read the news updates about the terror attack: “Three Israelis murdered in Har Adar”
That sick feeling, I had when I realized that Har Adar is where someone I love is staying right now.
That sick feeling when I turned on the t.v. and heard the details of the attack, of knowing that three people died today. Had they not have stood between the terrorist and the community, had they not been alert, it would be other families mourning today. Maybe it would have been me.
That sick feeling when I heard more about the terrorist. He worked in Har Adar. He went there almost every day. The people there knew him and he entered their homes. They talked to him about life in Israel and even about his personal problems. They tried to support him and even gave him their own clothes and food to take home, to make his life easier. It is sickening to know that, despite all of this, these are the people he decided to murder.
Sickening but not surprising.
Why?
3. Blood money
Why would a man decide to murder people who employed him, who helped him, who showed him care and compassion, who treated him like a member of their own family?
Jew hate is one explanation. The Arab media, from schoolbooks to songs on the radio to television programs, the way their news is reported etc. is packed with incitement against Jews and Israel. It is no surprise that people told from childhood that those who kill Jews are “martyrs”, heroes, grow up believing that killing Jews is a good thing. Some become “martyrs” themselves, others celebrate and honor these martyrs.
But even this is not enough of an explanation for today’s terror attack. Often it is hot-headed teenagers and twenty-somethings who, believing the incitement, decide to kill Jews for “glory”.
Today’s terrorist, a 37 year old father of four has a different profile. It’s possible that he was a successful actor, so talented that he convinced the good people of Har Adar that it was ok to let him in to their homes, that they didn’t feel his hate when they spoke with him, when they reached out to him with support and compassion. It’s possible but not likely.
Blood money is the driving incentive.
Today’s investigation revealed that the terrorist beat his wife so severely that her family smuggled her away from him, to Jordan. He was left with their four children and his solution was to go kill Jews. This would provide his children with ample financial support for life. Much more than he could provide, even with the good job he had in Har Adar.
Money. The Palestinian Authority pays terrorists (or the family of the terrorist) an impressive monthly salary for killing Jews. ‘Palestinians’ who work for Israeli businesses get a much higher salary and all the social benefits according to Israeli law. This is much more than they can ever hope to receive working in PA territory. Even so, this cannot compete with the salaries the PA provides for terrorists, prisoners and ‘martyrs’.
They get money for Jewish blood. Blood money.
This money comes from the budget of the Palestinian Authority. That money comes from foreign aid sent by EU countries, the United States etc.
You need to know that if your country is sending foreign aid to the Palestinian Authority, your money, your taxes are blood money. You are funding our murder.