"A Wave of Murderous Arab Terror"

"I live on Hashneim Street in Bnei Brak and I was at home when I heard gunshots."

"I immediately went out to the street and saw a terrorist pointing a weapon at me."

"By a miracle, his weapon jammed and  he couldn't shoot."

Menachem Englander, Israeli paramedic

 

"Every few years, the State of Israel deals with a wave of terrorism."  

"After a period of quiet, there is a violent eruption by those who want to destroy us, those who want to hurt us at any price, whose hatred of Jews, of the State of Israel, drives them crazy."  

"[Israel's security forces had to adapt to] read the tell-tale signs of lone individuals, sometimes without organizational affiliation, and to be in control on the ground in order to thwart terrorism even before it happens." 

"They are up to the task and, as in the previous waves, we will prevail this time as well."

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett

The scene of a shooting in Bnei Brak on March 29, 2022.

(photo credit: AVSHALOM SASSONI/MAARIV)

Eleven Israelis were killed by Palestinian Arab terrorists in three separate attacks within Israel in the space of a week. Israelis were shocked; police and the armed forces are on high alert for further attacks, and in the West Bank, jubilation broke out among those who believe the occasion merits great celebration. Arab states that signed on to the Abraham Accords sent their sympathies to Israel, as friends will do when misfortune falls upon others.

 

A video posted online saw a young man in black using an assault rifle to shoot in the streets of Bnei Brak. He also shot his weapon into a car that drove past, as it crashed. Police who appeared expeditiously on the scene of carnage engaged the attacker and he was shot to death. The Palestinian terrorist was identified  as a 27-year-old resident of a village close to the West Bank city of Jenin.

 

Witnesses to the attack describe seeing the gunman shooting at apartment balconies before turning to people on the street, and the passing car. He succeeded in taking the lives of five people, and injuring more.  Two Ukrainians in Israel on work visas were among the dead, along with two Israeli men with young families. An Arab-Israeli policeman, being lauded as a hero for his role in stopping and 

'liquidating' the attacker, himself died from wounds he sustained.

 

Amir Khouri, 32, from Nof Hagalil, a police officer who was killed in a firefight with a terrorist in Bnei Brak on March 29, 2022 (Israel Police)  

 

 

 

 

Two previous attacks within a short period had seen security stepped up across the country. An Israeli Arab who aspired to join the Islamic State group in Syria, serving a prison sentence for security crimes had carried forward the first attack when he deliberately and fatally drove his car into a cyclist. He then stabbed three people to death in the southern city of Beersheba, outside a shopping centre. Following that, five days afterward, two Israeli Arabs attacked and killed two 19-year-old police officers in Hadera. Islamic State claimed it as one of their victories.

None of those attackers survived. But they fulfilled their purpose, to become celebrated martyrs, to earn the praise of Hamas and Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah among other terror groups, for their heroic efforts on behalf of the goal to destroy the Jewish state. Israel is always on alert in the days leading up to, and during the holy Islamic festival of Ramadan, when it seems its enemies are inspired to zealously slaughter Jews as a symbol of their faith and their dedication to jihad.

 

Eli Bin, head of the Magen David Adom emergency responder unit, Israel's version of the Red Cross stated: "We unfortunately have to note that five people have died". The frequency of such attacks inspired by hatred fed to Palestinians from childhood to maturity -- being exposed to Palestinian Authority urging of its citizens to never think of normalizing relations with Jews and Israel since to do so would assent to its right of existence as a Jewish State -- have been bred through school curricula and PA media to value unrelenting, lethal attacks as virtuous justice.

Israeli security, forewarned of the potential of attacks, had raided homes of a dozen Arab citizens, arresting two on suspicion of ties to Islamic State. the raids resulting from a probe into the attacks. The deadly assaults, remarked Israel's prime minister, highlighted a "new situation" requiring more stringent security measures. "Israel is facing a wave of murderous Arab terror", he said.

Photo: paramedic Menachem Englander