The objective: Murder
Jews are carriers of memories; people being burned gives us collective goosebumps. Next week, on the 10th of the Hebrew month of Tevet, we will have a general Kaddish (the mourning prayer) day for all those murdered in the Holocaust.Slight improvement overnight for girl hurt in West Bank firebombing
Now, some will ask, "How can you make such a comparison?" Some whose eyes are still shut tight will say that those who threw the Molotov cocktails were just punks, bored teenagers. But the Palestinian incitement, which bears the stamp of Islamic State and al-Qaida, is causing those same youths to fantasize about a final solution.
Yes. A little familiarity with what is happening on social media at the fringes of Palestinian society, with its textbooks, and with its television messages is enough for us to realize that some of our neighbors are growing closer to the ideology of those who tried to exterminate us seven decades ago. Compared to them, the "serious threat" posed by the Lahava anti-assimilation group is child's play.
Those who throw rocks and Molotov cocktails want to kill. Their numbers are growing in the face of the silence from the security apparatus. I'm not sure where the phrase "helplessness" comes from, but apparently this is what it looks like: a homemade bottle of murder breaks a family into pieces, and the Israeli Air Force and Iron Dome and the Israeli Navy can't save a girl trapped in a burning car. What can they do? Deterrence. Sovereignty.
There was a slight improvement overnight in the condition of the 11-year-old Israeli girl seriously injured in a West Bank firebomb attack Thursday evening.Terrorist Behind Near-Deadly Firebomb Attack Apprehended
Ayala Shapira is still intubated and sedated in serious condition, as doctors in the Sheba Medical Center emergency room work to save her life, Israel Radio reported.
A doctor at Sheba told Israel Radio Friday that they had opened a breathing passage in her neck, where she had suffered serious burns.
Shapira and her father, Avner, were driving home near a West Bank settlement in the northern West Bank when their car was struck by a Molotov cocktail.
The girl suffered third-degree burns over the majority of her body and face and was placed in an induced coma.
Sheba director Professor Zeev Rotstein said that she suffered life-threatening burns to her torso, head, arms and legs, and that “we will do everything in order to save her life.”
IDF forces quickly deployed in a massive operation to track down the terrorist responsible for the attack, which also left father Avner lightly injured. 12 Palestinian residents of the village of Kfar Azoun were arrested during the operation.
Ya'alon had vowed to "lay hands" on the attacker earlier Friday during a visit to the scene of the near-deadly firebombing, where he met with top-ranking IDF commanders to review the security situation in the sector.
He praised the "rapid" deployment of "military operations and security forces on the ground following the attack."
"We will put our hands on the attackers and if they have backers - we will even reach them," Ya'alon said. "The IDF and Shin Bet will know to address the situation where there is mass terror, which includes throwing Molotov cocktails and rocks."
Ya'alon then visited critically wounded 11-year-old Ayala Shapira at Tel HaShomer's Sheba Medical Center and spoke with her parents.
"Be strong," Ya'alon told the parents. "Ayala is in the good hands of excellent doctors. I wish her a speedy recovery."
"Looking ahead, this is a very complex and trying time, and you should stock up mental strength for it," he continued. "This terror aims to intimidate the residents of Judea and Samaria, but from my knowledge of the people of the region, and from talking to you, I can tell that they will not deter us."