Tel Aviv Atrocity Reaction

"I’m thinking about all the ‘devil’s advocates’ I’ve known, the ‘they have no other venues for protest’ camp, the ‘it’s justifiable in a conflict like this’ college students I shared desks with. Please consider, if you’ve read this far: if we hadn’t sat outside, if the shooters came into the restaurant, if one had turned slightly to the left and fired, I would be dead right now. I don’t care what ‘side’ you’re on. I don’t care about your politics…call out terror for what it is. Call men shooting at screaming civilians who are running for their lives terrorist. Tell the people you know that it’s never okay to target innocent men, women and children, even if you don’t like where they live. Stand up for the people…who will never come home again after tonight. Stand up for the workers, the parents, the grandparents, the friend, the off-duty soldier who laid there on the floor and breathed softly, praying the glass would hold. Stand up to anyone who says my life isn’t worth it. Because when they say it, I’ve learned, they mean it."
"I’m alive. I’m alive. The world is beautiful, and I’m alive."                                       Linda Dayan — off-duty IDF soldier, survivor Tel Aviv massacre

Israeli emergency personnel at the scene of a terror attack at the popular Sarona Market in Tel Aviv. Photo: Magen David Adom.

This is why the wall was built, to separate Palestinians bent on creating chaos, havoc and death, from succeeding in their mission. Before the wall went up this kind of attack was horribly common, where Palestinian terrorists exulted in their ability to target and attack places of commerce in Israel where people were certain to gather in numbers, and the death toll was horrific. The Great Wall of China, that historic immensity bespeaking the urgency to keep marauders at bay is reflected in a wall in Cyprus separating the Greeks from the Turks after Turkey's invasion of the Greek-held island.

In parts of Europe, walls are being built in an epic effort to dissuade refugees and migrants seeking economic opportunities and fleeing  oppression and conflict in their places of origin -- all Islamic societies -- look to their future in Europe which has been inundated. But it is the wall built by Israel to safeguard the lives of its vulnerable citizens, surrounded by the hostile intent of Palestinians, many of whom raise their children to be future assassins, aided and abetted in that aspiration by the Palestinian Authority, that sees censure internationally.

Well, wall or no wall, if the determination is there, those avidly seeking to fulfill their hate-filled agenda will find a way. There will be lapses even within the most aware of security establishments. And those who plan attacks on defenceless civilians likely take especial pleasure in doing so in full view of the very military establishment whose job it is to defend those civilians. Doing so also, in the full knowledge that if they survive, the very best of medical treatment will be available to them, along with prison conditions unseen anywhere in the Arab world.

Thus it was that on Wednesday two terrorists dressed for the occasion in black-and-white, since for them the issue certainly is black and white; Israel is an enemy that must be destroyed and start anywhere in that destructiveness -- made entry to the Sarona Market shopping complex. To break their Ramadan fast they ordered refreshments at the Max Brenner chocolate bar/cafe where their black 'suit' was identified by Jews as those worn by Haredim and by an Arab-Israeli bartender as a 'business' suit used by Hamas.

The business they set about concluding was done with the aid of a popular improvised machine gun, fabricated locally. As a deadly weapon it seems to work just fine. The IDF is well aware of the manufacture and sale of these guns and raids are undertaken to confiscate them. But just as it is next to impossible to persuade people to talk and not fight, to keep an open mind and not nurture hatred, attempting to take possession of all the methods of destruction is quite the task. During the latest attacks within Israel the Carl Gustav-type weapon has been hugely popular.

Two weapons seized after an attack on Israeli soldiers on Monday at the entrance to the Israeli settlement at Kiryat Arba. The machine pistol (above) is the variant of the homemade ‘Carl Gustav’ submachine gun. Photograph: Supplied by Israel Defence Forces

By the time the two Palestinian brothers -- connected to Hamas -- were finished with their day's work four people were dead and sixteen wounded. The two terrorists were put out of immediate commission by security guards; one of the two wounded, the other not. But the wounded one taken to the same hospital that was treating the victims. Apart from the horror of yet another dreadful attack shattering the lives of innocent people, it is the reaction from the Palestinian street that is interesting, exemplifying that these people enjoy living in 'interesting times'.

Youth in Tulkarm distributing candies. (photo credit:ARAB MEDIA)

Palestinian news anchor Salma al-Jamal, from Al-Jazeera TV, tweeted: "The Ramadan operation that took place today is the best answer to stories we have been hearing about 'peace process' that some people are trying in vain to revive." And in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, Palestinians flooded the streets celebrating the Tel Aviv attack. Others gathered at the Old City of Jerusalem Damascus Gate, singing and cheering. A celebratory occasion.

On social media networks Palestinians created the hashtags "#Carlo Bullet" in honour of the improvised submachine gun that has been so useful in killing Jews. In Tulkarm in the West Bank young men were out on the streets distributing sweets to local drivers. Dozens of Palestinians at the Dheisheh Refugee Camp in Bethlehem took part in a march in high praise of the death of four Israelis and the wounding of many others. But there have been isolated exceptions. And surprisingly, out of Saudi Arabia.

"The Tel Aviv attack is terror and thuggery. Our solidarity and support for the Palestinian people does not mean that we accept the killing of innocents and civilians. We would like to extend our condolences to the families of the victims."
"I will keep saying that killing civilians and innocents in the streets as happened in the Tel Aviv attack is terror. Even if it happened in the streets of Tehran or Isfahan it would be terror."
Dahham al-Enazi, member, Saudi Journalists Association

Arab media