NYPost Editorial: Palestinian Leaders Have a Disturbing Idea of "Heroism"
Propaganda from Hamas and Fatah, the rulers of Gaza and the West Bank, routinely sings the praises of the “heroes” and “martyrs” who slaughter Israeli civilians in the name of justice for the Palestinian people. Obscenely, that even extends to the murderer of a 4-day-old baby.Soldiers killed in West Bank terror attack named as Yovel Mor Yosef, Yosef Cohen
Little Amiad Yisrael Ish-Ran perished Wednesday, just four days after his delivery by emergency Caesarian at 30 weeks — surgery made necessary when he and his mother, Shira, were badly wounded in a West Bank shooting (as was his father, Amichai).
Hamas’ military wing, the Izz ad-Din Al-Qassam Brigades, took “credit” for the attack, but both rival Palestinian groups praised the killer, Saleh Omar Saleh Barghouti — himself killed Wednesday resisting arrest.
Hamas called the attack a “heroic and qualitative operation” serving “to affirm our people’s legitimate right to resist the occupation.” Fatah called him a “heroic martyr of the homeland,” with lots of poetry about his blood spreading a fine scent on the wind.
As with all Palestinians who commit the political murder of any Israeli, the late killer’s family will qualify for a substantial stipend from the Palestinian Authority.
You don’t have to support Israel to find this beyond barbaric.
A pair of Israeli soldiers killed in a terror shooting in the central West Bank were identified on Thursday evening as Staff Sgt. Yovel Mor Yosef, 20, and Sgt. Yosef Cohen, 19.
Mor Yosef was from the southern city of Ashkelon. Cohen was a resident of Beit Shemesh. Both were members of the Kfir Brigade’s Netzah Yehuda infantry battalion, a unit for religious soldiers.
The army said Mor Yosef and Cohen were posthumously promoted from the ranks of sergeant and corporal respectively after they were killed by gunfire in the attack outside the Givat Assaf settlement outpost.
Mor Yosef’s funeral will be held at the Ashkelon military cemetery at 11:00 a.m. on Friday. Cohen will be buried in Jerusalem at 10:30 a.m. on Friday morning.
A third soldier was critically injured in the shooting and underwent surgery for a gunshot wound to the head at Hadassah Hospital Ein Karem in Jerusalem on Thursday. A civilian woman was also seriously wounded.
Mor Yosef’s uncle told reporters his nephew was supposed to return home Thursday, but volunteered to remain with his unit to give other soldiers time off.
“His life goal was to serve in a combat unit. This is what he did and wanted. He really enjoyed serving, [he] contributed and volunteered,” Sami Mor Yosef said.
Thousands attend funerals of soldiers killed in West Bank attack
The two Israeli soldiers killed in Thursday’s terror shooting in the central West Bank were buried on Friday, solemnly and fondly remembered by their families, friends and commanders.Khaled Abu Toameh: The Barghouti clan’s jihad against Israel
Sgt. Yosef Cohen and Staff Sgt. Yovel Mor Yosef were members of the Kfir Brigade’s Netzah Yehuda infantry battalion, a unit for ultra-Orthodox soldiers.
Mor Yosef and Cohen were posthumously promoted from the ranks of sergeant and corporal, respectively, after a Palestinian shot them dead in the attack outside the Givat Assaf outpost. A third soldier was critically injured in the shooting, and a civilian woman was seriously wounded although her condition was improving Friday.
Cohen’s funeral began at the Shamgar funeral home in Jerusalem, where hundreds of people mourned the 19-year-old resident of Beit Shemesh, including Deputy Defense Minister Eli Ben Dahan (Jewish Home), MKs Moti Yogev (Jewish Home) and Oren Hazan (Likud), and Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion.
“Yosef, sweet child, righteous child, I never believed we would come to this moment,” Cohen’s stepfather, Rabbi Eliyahu Merav, said in his tearful eulogy. “For years I raised you, you great, holy, pure child… full of love, giving and soul.”
Cohen’s father, Eitan, had died when he was young, and his mother — who like other women didn’t speak at the funeral in accordance with ultra-Orthodox custom — married Merav.
“Dear Eitan, are you happy with your dear child, now? Are you dancing with him up there?” Merav addressed Cohen’s late father.
Saleh Barghouti, the 29-year-old Palestinian who was killed on Wednesday night by the IDF near the village of Surda, north of Ramallah, belongs to a clan whose members are famous for carrying out a series of terrorist attacks against Israel in the past four decades.
The IDF says that Saleh belonged to the cell that carried out the shooting attack outside Ofra, which resulted in the nine Israelis wounded. An infant boy was delivered prematurely after his mother was seriously wounded in the attack and died on Wednesday.
Saleh was the most recent member of the prominent Barghouti clan to be involved in terrorist attacks against Israel. The clan has several families that live in the villages of Kobar, Aboud, Bani Zeid and Beit Rima in the Ramallah area. Saleh was from Kobar.
Saleh’s father, Omar, 65, spent more than 25 years in Israeli prison for his role in terrorism. The father was first arrested by the IDF in 1978 for killing an Israeli citizen and was sentenced to life in prison. However, Omar, who is known as Abu Asef, was released seven years later in a prison exchange. Since then, he has been repeatedly held in administrative detention for several years. Omar entered Israeli prison as a member of Fatah, but later became a prominent leader of Hamas.
A clan member also named Omar Barghouti is a founding member of the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic Boycott of Israel and co-founder of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement (BDS). Omar was born in Qatar.