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.