Another Link In The Chain

I never intended this blog to become a litany of reports of terrorist attacks perpetrated against the people of Israel, but Man proposes, God disposes.

On Sunday, Hillel Menachem Yaniv (aged 21) and his brother Yagel Ya’akov Yaniv (aged 19) were gunned down at point-blank range by a despicable “Palestinian” terrorist, as they sat in their car, like sitting ducks, in a traffic jam at the exit to the “Palestinian” town of Huwwara – the same junction where our (bullet-proof) bus was gridlocked, on our archaeological field trip to Mt. Ebal back in December, and where we will be again on our field trip to Mt. Gerizim next month.

Again, two brothers, butchered in cold blood, simply for being Jews – like the two children about whom I wrote in my previous post, just two weeks ago.
Are you seeing a pattern here? You should. Because what seemed to interest the international media was not so much the murder of the two brothers, who were, after all, “Jewish settlers” and therefore, apparently, legitimate targets, but the violent reaction of some Israelis, who rampaged through Huwwara in the wake of the terrorist attack. I am not justifying their reaction, but the fact that the international mainstream media seems to be more focussed on that than on the murders, I find outrageous. And let’s not deceive ourselves. Even without the riots in Huwwara, CNN, making no attempt to conceal their egregious anti-Israeli bias, headlined their report “Two Israeli settlers killed in West Bank shooting, days after Israeli raid kills 11 Palestinians”. (Of course, there is no mention of the fact that the Israeli raid was an attempt to arrest known terrorists.) The article starts off “Two Israeli settlers were shot and killed in the West Bank on Sunday, local settler leader Yossi Dagan said, calling it “an extremely serious terrorist attack.” The implication is that there is some doubt as to whether a terrorist attack took place, because the source is a “local settler leader” – and throughout the article, the victims are referred to as “the settlers”, in order to imply that they were legitimate targets, while an eyewitness is described as “another local settler leader”, no doubt with the object of delegitimising his testimony.

True to type, the New York Times also concentrated on the revenge wreaked by Israeli rioters, mentioning the terrorist murder of two Israeli civilians only in passing and making sure to stress their “settler” status.
“Revenge Attacks After Killing of Israeli Settlers Leave West Bank in Turmoil” screams the headline.
I will, however, give credit to the NYT for at least admitting that most of the Palestinians killed in the “West Bank” since the start of the year were killed as a result of gun battles between armed “Palestinian” groups and Israeli troops.

It has also been reported that the US State Department has told Israel that “We expect the Israeli government to ensure full accountability and legal prosecution of those responsible for these attacks, in addition to compensation for the loss of homes and property”.
I wonder if the State Department has also communicated to the “Palestinian Authority” its “expectation” that they arrest and prosecute those responsible for the murder of Hillel and Yagel – instead of paying them (or their families, should Israeli forces manage to lay their hands on the perpetrators) a monthly stipend under their “Pay to Slay” policy.
Israel, at any rate, is certain to prosecute and punish the Israeli rioters. The rampage was roundly condemned by the government – even by leaders of the most “extreme right wing” parties, such as Bezalel Smotrich. The IDF is treating the riots as a terror attack. There were even demonstrations in Tel Aviv, demanding that the rioters be brought to trial and punished and Israelis set up a fund to compensate the “Palestinian” victims.
I wonder – was there any parallel “Palestinian” demonstration against the murder of the two Jewish brothers, or did they, as usual, mark the event by handing out cakes and sweets to passersby?

The very next day, another Israeli civilian was murdered near the Arava Junction. This didn’t lead to riots, so you might not have heard about it, unless you live in Connecticut, USA. The victim, 27-year-old Elan Ganeles, held dual US – Israeli citizenship. He was born, and lived in, West Hartford, CT and was in Israel for a wedding. The vile terrorist murderers fired on two other cars, but without managing to reap any more fatalities, then set fire to their own vehicles and fled in the direction of Jericho, which is under “Palestinian Authority” jurisdiction. Will the US State Department issue a statement to the effect that they “expect” the PA to arrest and prosecute the murderers, in light of the fact that the victim was an American citizen?
Even if they do, the PA is unlikely to comply, considering that, within an hour of the attacks, they were handing out sweets in celebration.

And so it continues. For how long?

I have no answers.

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