What does it take to raise a child to stab another child to death? How early in his development would you have to start? What would you have to tell him? How often? Would you need the support of his school and other role models? Do you think you could succeed?
And what if it wasn’t a child who bullied him for years on the playground, but one he never met before?
Last week, a couple Arab boys, age 13 and 15, took a couple knives and went looking for some Jews in Jerusalem to kill. Any Jew. They tried a few. The one they were most successful with was a 13 year old boy who is still fighting for his life. A child leaving a candy store on his bike.
This was just one of hundreds of terror attacks against random Jews in random cities all over Israel in the last few weeks alone, perpetrated by teenagers, women, fathers, university students.
Arab teens brandishing knives chasing a Jew in Pisgat Zev. (Police photo)
What does it say about a society that on the drop of a hat can call out of the woodwork hundreds of people of all ages ready to knife, stone, shoot or run over men, women, children and babies?
To raise children en masse to murder is a giant and unnatural task. To raise an entire generation on such an intense hatred of another people requires a coordinated , consistent, ongoing educational effort that must involve every aspect of the society they are growing up in: their places of worship, their schools, their summer camps, their television, their music and their political leaders.
Welcome to the Palestinian Authority. A consistent educational message has been drilled in to their children for decades. The result: a hateful generation from which many are willing, ready and waiting to kill. It may not be their fault, but today they are brandishing the knives.
Here’s what the PA’s “moderate” President Abbas said (in Arabic) recently on official PA TV about the recent wave of dozens of attacks by everyday citizens on innocent Israelis: “We welcome every drop of blood spilled in Jerusalem. Every drop is pure blood, clean blood, blood spilled on its way to Allah. With the help of Allah, every martyr will be in Heaven, and every wounded will get his reward.“ (Of course to the international press he called for calm.)
The PA President’s reaction to their 13 year old terrorist? In a press conference he showed a picture of the terrorist after he was shot while attempting to stab Israeli police, and accused Israel of executing Palestinian children in cold blood (ignoring the fact that the terrorist is being cared for in an Israeli hospital in moderate condition). He declared that they would not surrender to the wanton force and aggression of the Israeli people and would not allow Israel’s “aggressive offensive” against their people and their holy sites.
If you think this might be isolated, similar statements were made in recent days by Abbas's official spokesman, the PLO Secretary General and the PA Prime Minister… all hailing their terrorists are heroes.
Public support for terror is reflected by the spontaneous street celebrations that erupt every time an innocent civilian is butchered. Gory pictures of murder victims are shared on social media and PA TV with statements of pride from family members.
And days ago, at a rally of 20,000 in one of Israel’s largest Arab cities, the leading Israeli Arab Knesset Member, Ahmed Tibi, led the throngs in calling, “In blood and fire we will redeem Jerusalem”.
Slamming a knife repeatedly into a living being is one of the most violent ways to kill. Could you do it with a rabid dog that had to be “put down”?
For What Cause?
The Palestinian Authority has produced a generation with the unique combination of an intense hatred that brings masses to a willingness to support and/or commit murder of innocent people, together with a violent brutality that is not repulsed by the natural human horror of mutilating blood and flesh.
And for what cause?
The Muslims in Israel claim that they are “defending Al Aqsa”, referring to the mosque and shrine that Moslems built 600 years after the Jewish Temple, which stood on the spot for almost 1,000 years.
For months, their leaders have been calling for every Muslim citizen to take up the battle cry and defend Al Aqsa.
But defending against what? According to Muslim leaders, Israel is attempting to “change the status quo” of the mount, thereby desecrating Islam.
Let’s examine the claim.
In 1967, Israel’s existence was threatened by an attack by five Arab armies. During its defense it reclaimed all of Jerusalem including Judaism’s most holy site (Islam’s third holiest), the Temple Mount and adjacent Western Wall.
In a gesture of peace, Israel gave full authority over Al Aqsa and the Temple Mount to the Muslim religious authority (Waqf). The result? Despite Israel’s commitment to freedom of religion everywhere else, Christians and Jews are not allowed to pray there. Despite the fact that Israeli courts have declared it discriminatory and illegal, Israeli soldiers regularly stop Jews and Christians from praying in their holy place.
Imagine what would happen in the United States if a synagogue refused a Christian to enter with his New Testament?
This is the status quo that Muslims are so committed to and so incensed by any attempt to change. Their righteous indignation is born of a deep commitment to NO freedom of worship.
And is Israel committed to changing this status quo? In a word, no. There has been no proposed legislation, no discussion taking place in the Knesset or any of its committees. There may be a few individual Jews and Christians who have visited and tried to pray on the Temple Mount and some have even called on the Knesset to change the status quo, but these are a few very lone voices far from the Israeli consensus or political agenda. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and many other leaders have repeated ad nauseum that Israel has no intention to make any change. Netanyahu even recently barred Israeli members of Knesset from even setting foot on the Temple Mount.
Israelis are scratching their heads wondering what exactly happened that unleashed this newest wave of Palestinian terror, since this was completely a non-issue. The answer: incitement based on lies. Despite this “much ado about nothing”, the ongoing calls by Muslim religious and political leaders to defend Al Aqsa convinced their people that the abomination against Islam being attempted by Israel was something well worth dying for.
Muslims are defending the perceived “attack” on Al Aqsa, which would allow Jews and Christians to pray on the Temple Mount. Even if it true, this “offense” is blatantly racist and undemocratic.
But being entirely dreamed up, we have a fabricated racist ideology that has been used to stir the Palestinian masses into a frenzy. How do they defend Al Aqsa? By killing any Jew you can find. When there is such a toxic level of hatred and brutality, it doesn’t take much to make it explode.
As parents of children in Jerusalem who can no longer walk to school, take buses or go to the park for fear of being knifed to death by terrorists looking for the next Jewish blood, I cannot understand the world’s silence at this shocking wave of terror. For anyone still in doubt, the mask has been removed laying bare for all the murderous rage and barbarity that pervades Palestinian society.
(15) Dvora, July 23, 2016 3:19 PM
Lies
Every Nation lies to it's Constituents about rights they never had or that they are excluded from. When the lie is BIG enough, and repeated by a lying media, it confirms to the masses that the LIE is TRUTH. People believe in lies. Hatred is the result of darkness but a psychopath or sociopath it comes naturally. Abbas is a propagandist of hatred. His most esteemed friend, Yasser Arafat, and colleague, a serial killer, criminal sociopath. From the day an "invented" pali comes into the World, he/she is fed lies. Mother, Father, Sister, Brother, Aunt, Uncle then topped by the Pali Authority, Abbas. They would be axed to death by his henchmen if they dare to not do what they are told. Israel has dealt with them in the peace process thus confirming their existence as truth. Israel has justified the liar. Then, attack those who try to assist, which they then make outcasts for doing the right thing. So long as you deal with a liar in a legitimate Government process, you have sealed your own fate. All these Pali criminals are citizens of another Nation, primarily, JORDON.
(14) Guita Hyman, October 27, 2015 2:25 PM
excellent article,Ephraim!
I share your frustration and hope your article reaches those who can and should understand Israel's history and present situation.
(13) Aviel, October 26, 2015 12:39 PM
wrong story we already know their dedication.the story should be is how do you combat it
i don't think the answer is allowing them victories[israel has not really won a war since 67. they all ended in some sort of stalemate. their educational system promoting jew hatred was left intact and possibly worse.world support for their cause is greater than ever. if israel is serious it needs to decide what border and what holy sites it's worth killing and dying for in great numbers and what level of isolation it can withstand and then please get serious. our enemies laugh at the jew.the holiest site in the world for jews is the temple mount and the world spokesman for the jews announces it's for arabs to pray there and jews may visit[managing to violate the opinion of the sages who say don't visit and those that say do pray] it's time for jews to take a stand. maybe some do but don't need an article like this to know the dedication of my enemy.
(12) Raisy, October 25, 2015 10:26 PM
Pathological behavior
The arabs are exhibiting classic pathological behavior based on their belief in their own victimhood. A victim mentality doesn't allow for any accountability for their own actions. They see themselves as reacting to the 'wrongs' and 'injustices' perpetrated against them for years and years. They feel 'unfaired against' and mistreated. This entitles them to lash out and harm and maim their perceived persecutors.
Sadly I grew up with a family member who was physically, verbally and emotionally abusive to those in her care. When confronted, she would deny the behavior, then burst into tears and cry about how no one would ever believe how hard her life was/is...no one has it as bad as she does/did...she ended by pointing a finger at the victim and accusing the victim of persecuting her...
Sounds familiar?
(11) Rachel, October 21, 2015 3:35 AM
Nothing new under the sun
Equality and the brotherhood of man are the new ideas. For millennia children have been taught to kill or at least dominate the "other". How else can you explain slavery in America, the Inquisition, the Crusades, colonialism, and the mistreatment of women, just to name a few?
(10) Anonymous, October 19, 2015 9:55 PM
Sparta
Spartans used to do this
(9) ajh, October 19, 2015 3:27 PM
PATHOLOGY
What is being done to these young is debased,and warned of in common psych text.
(8) Anonymous, October 19, 2015 1:54 AM
Sealing our own fate
If all Palestinian Arab children were taught to kill Jews, it's hard to imagine any force in Israel that could stop them. If all Palestinian parents believed it was right for their children to kill Jews, the status quo even within the Green Line could never hold. The reality is that it is only a minority of Palestinians, children and parents, on either side of the Green Line, who condone much less advocate the atrocities of recent days and weeks. The majority live in far greater terror of extremists within their own Palestinian society than do even their closest Jewish neighbors. Thus this evil can be stopped only if right-thinking, Gd-fearing, good-hearted members of both societies band together for their common good. To turn our backs on potential allies within Palestinian society only strengthens the hand of those bent on the destruction of Israel at any cost. The struggle may take years, decades, perhaps even longer to achieve, and likely in tenuous, fragile increments, but those who live in Ireland and South Africa have shown it can be done. It is a lesson we dare not fail to learn.
Ephraim Shore, October 19, 2015 12:03 PM
Based on what evidence?
Your comments reflect the problem. If people naively believe that only a few radicals are the problem in the PA, then we can't begin to deal with a realistic solution. Do you have any evidence for saying the majority are against terrorism? You reflect the typical opinion of uninformed kind hearted people who think everywhere is America-like. Unfortunately, it's not. The vast majority of Palestinians think killing Jews is fantastic. And those few who might disagree are scared to death to let anyone know their opinion.
Scott, October 21, 2015 1:26 PM
Lessons from the shoah
That's how six million died.
If you listen really hard you can hear their ghosts talking about how most Germans don't agree with the Nazis and how Hitler will never be able to carry out his promises because the good people will stop him.
If a person does not rise to your defense when you are attacked...when your women are attacked....when your children are attacked....he is your enemy. I know this because I would have to hate someone a great deal to stand by while it happened to them.
When arabs stand up to defend Jews. When arabs call for the heads of the stabbers, the suicide bombers, the gunmen, the rock throwers and the spreaders of Muslim antisemitic hate then I will start thinking if arabs as potential allies.
Until then they are not. They are all threats.
I'm not stepping closer to the gas chamber just to make our lefty friends feel good about themselves.
I'm not suggesting we go after arabs. I'm just saying none of them are on our team. Don't make that mistake again.
Miriam, October 23, 2015 10:58 AM
I would agree that Palestinians are being exploited by their leaders
but who elected those leaders? Israel gave over Gaza, an area with flowing fields growing lettuce in water, and a short while later it's a place that if you landed there, you, kindhearted and open-minded and non-judgmental as you are, would be tortured to death within 5 minutes. (Don't believe me? Why don't you hop over there for a visit? Would you go if I gave you a free ticket and a million bucks? No? Why not? But you're so all-loving of all humanity! They would be helped by your encouragement! Oh, you mean you don't want to be tortured to death in the cause of helping the poor Palestinians? Racist! Bigot!)
The Palestinians voted for the Hamas rulership in Gaza.
I agree with you in theory. The Palestinians are being exploited by their leaders. It would be wonderful if there were some way to change that.
But some Nazi soldiers might have joined because they came from a dysfunctional home and were longing to belong to something. Does that change the fact that they became murderers?
Some African terrorists join because they're lonely and no one ever raised them. They think the terror leader will replace the father/mother they never had.
So what? Do you let them move on your block if you see them amazing weapons and they brandish a knife whenever they see you?
I don't see that you're making an original point. Everyone knows the Palestinians are being exploited from the top and we wish we could change that. But the fact is that they are dangerous, bloodthirsty, and yes, their parents are adults, with G-d-given freedom of choice.
Yes, perhaps 95% of gangsters, rapists, murderers, would be different with a healthy upbringing. No news. Now what do we do? Let them murder us? The streets of Israel have become a war zone. The country is under house arrest with people emerging only to go to work, clutching pepper spray, moving constantly, literally in terror.
Anonymous, October 23, 2015 10:59 AM
Rest of my comment
What problem do you have with Rabbi Shore revealing the crux of the problem, a nation of people encouraging all-out murder?
(7) Sara, October 18, 2015 6:47 PM
Whole generations loss
A whole generation of kids are lost all over the world. Israel is no exception. In America we have the same problem or worst. Babies killing babies with all the guns that the kids are getting from their parents or friends. Hatred pass down from generation to generation because you don't like a certain group/race of people. What do think Obama is suppose to do? This was happening before he became President and it will continue to happen once he leave. He can't change things by himself. You have to look at the home, not the government to save you. It's so easy to blame others for our problems, do you blame God who is greater? Man needs to take a long hard look at themselves, but unfortunately man don't know how to solve anything so we must beg and cry out to God for help. Not even the flood was able to change man, evil is at the core of our existence. I guess when God comes in order to solve this we can no longer be humans. This outer shell(our body) will have to be permanently striped away.
(6) KD, October 18, 2015 2:51 PM
IT HAPPENING AROURND THE WORLD IN EVER RACE AND CULTURE! WHEN WILL IT STOP?
There is something particularly terrifying about a child who kills. Children are often considered to be above suspicion for the horrific crime of murder. They are inherently trusted, and this can make them incredibly dangerous.
When Brian Howe went missing at age three, his sister Pat went around the neighborhood to look for him. Mary Bell, an 11-year-old neighbor, volunteered to help and walked with Pat everywhere to find him. Of course, little Mary Bell knew just where he was … right where she left him hours earlier, dead inside a condemned house. He’d been strangled to death and stabbed with scissors. On his belly, the letter “M” was scrawled with a razor blade.
Shockingly, it wasn’t her first crime. Months before, Mary Bell murdered four-year-old Martin Brown. Bell was convicted of manslaughter and sent into the juvenile system. She was released at age 23. Under British law, Mary was given a new identity upon her release. Today she is a mother and grandmother in her 50s. To many, Mary Bell is one of the most frightening child killers of all time
Lionel Tate became the youngest person in the United States to get a life sentence in 2001. He was convicted of killing a six-year-old girl. He was 12 when the crime was committed, and claims he accidentally killed the child while practicing wrestling moves on her. His conviction was overturned in 2004, and Tate pled guilty to second-degree murder. He was put on 10-year probation, but after violating it was sentenced to a 30-year prison term.
Joshua Phillips beat an eight-year-old girl to death. Phillips was 14 in 1998, when the crime occurred, and she was a neighbor of his. He hid her body under his waterbed, where it stayed for seven days until his mother noticed a leak beneath the bed. At this point, Phillips confessed to the murder and said it was an accident. He was convicted of first-degree murder just the same.
DAS1951, October 18, 2015 3:36 PM
Nonsense
KD, for all the guns in America I don't think there is any parallel.
US society (govt, TV etc) does not educate people, let alone children, to murder.
(5) K ziman, October 18, 2015 2:50 PM
Why on EARTH are they still treated in our hospitals?
Why must they still be treated in Israeli hospitals while the Arabs mock our mercy? Didn't we learn our lesson from King Shaul about being merciful when we're not supposed to?
(4) SA, October 18, 2015 2:40 PM
I know what happened should not have happened. Kids raised with hate red taught to them can't be a solution to humanity. I agree with every word said, but what really offended me is the picture of the article. The boy's in the pic are not Arabs but Afghanis. The pic passively tells that Afghan kids are violent. And just because the pic was chosen because the kids have gun in their hands doesn't mean they are violent or raised to kill others. They are innocent afghan kids who themselves are victims of arab violence and terrorism. I request the author to kindly consider this and remove the picture and put a suitable pic.
(3) Moi, October 18, 2015 2:38 PM
Yishmael is Pere Adam - Wild Animal
Defending the Al Aqsa mosque is just an excuse. The Arabs have been fighting the Jews even before the State was established. The Torah describes Yishmael as Pere Adam, a wild animal. We are in Galut Yishmael. The whole world will suffer from Yishmael until Moshiach comes. It's very scary but it's all been predicted in Tanach.
(2) Jim Wright, October 18, 2015 2:38 PM
Wake up world and see the truth!
Wake up world and see the truth! Israel needs to take back all of Isreal and send the "Palestinians" and Muslims packing to Arab countries!
(1) BenS, October 18, 2015 1:46 PM
Obama Admin Makes Jewish Voters Think Again
The Obama Adminsitration and the rest of the world are SILENT when the Religous Holy Site of Josephs Tomb is vandalized and set on fire by Palestinians. They only react to Palestinian LIES about the Temple Mount. There Moslems freely pray in the Mosque and non-Moslems are forbidden to pray but have access at times to visit. PAs Abbas explained Jews defile it with their filthy feet. This is what draws US and other attention - if Israel is careful on the Temple Mount. But when palestinians gather rocks and pipe bombs on the Temple Mount to toss agt Jews at the Western Wall or set Josephs Tomb ablaze they are SILENT! Sadly the Obama admin has made it MUCH MORE Dificult for pro Israel people to vote for an African American president. A)There are MANY Black Moslems with Moslem sympathies and anti Israel B) The BLACK CAUCAS in Congress would look at any disagreement as "Racist"! C) This president has a LONG record of hostile behavior regarding Israel and its interests from day one