Terrorism in Israel--and personal thanks to HaShem

My son works and lives in Tel Aviv. He’s usually about as far from Islamic terror as one can get in Israel.

Not today.

While riding on a bus this afternoon, my phone rang. It was my son. When I answered, I heard from the phone the distinctive sounds of loud sirens. When my son spoke, he said, ‘Abba, I’m calling you to tell you I’m okay.”

Hearing the sirens over the phone, I asked, ‘what’s up?’

He said, ‘I'm outside the building I work in. There’s been a stabbing inside.’

I asked, ‘What kind of stabbing?’

He said, ‘Don’t know. I just got here. There’s probably 40 police cars here. I think there was more than one stabbing.’

When I got home, I saw the news story: an Arab from outside Tel Aviv (but, apparently, legally in Tel Aviv), entered the building where my son works and stabbed perhaps five people (Ari Soffer, “Two killed in Tel Aviv synagogue attack”, Arutz Sheva, November 19, 2015). Two are dead. Arutz Sheva reported that one additional person was wounded. The Times of Israel reported, ‘at least two others wounded’ (“Two killed in stabbing attack outside Tel Aviv synagogue”, November 19, 2015). The Arab terrorist was tackled by a civilian and held until police came. He (the terrorist) sustained light injuries. Arutz Sheva said the attack ‘took place at’ the synagogue mentioned in the headline, during afternoon prayers (ibid). The Times of Israel reported the attack had taken place ‘at the entrance to’ the synagogue ‘as prayers were taking place’ (ibid).

In a follow-up phone call an hour later, my son told me his work building is an office complex with a synagogue on the second floor. Police officials noted that this attack took place one day after the first anniversary of a bloody terror attack in Jerusalem in which five Jews were murdered as they prayed.

Almost immediately, Hamas announced that it ‘welcomed’ the attack—and hopes to see more (Adiv Sterman, “Hamas ‘welcomes’ Tel Aviv stabbing, urges more ‘operations’”, Times of Israel, November 19, 2015). In Israel, we see this sort of ‘happy’ response all the time from Hamas—and from the ‘Palestinian’ Authority as well.

Unlike many in the West, we have no illusions about who attacks us. Followers of Islam want us dead. They mean what they say. They celebrate when they murder us.

It’s barbaric. We are surrounded by barbarism.

As news outlets here told this Tel Aviv terror story, YNET news seemed to capture the right words to describe this attack: Noam 'Dabul' Dvir, Eli Senyor, “2 murdered in Tel Aviv stabbing attack” (November 19, 2015). What was different about this headline? It didn’t say two had been ‘killed’. It said, ‘two had been murdered’.

In Israel, ‘killed’ isn’t clear. It could refer to a car accident or an industrial accident. ‘Murdered’ is the right word.

In Tel Aviv, today, two Jews were murdered precisely because they were Jewish. They were murdered, in other words, in a genocide attack (the definition of ‘genocide’ is an attack aimed at individuals who are attacked, not because they have done something specific, but because they are members of a ‘group’).

We are surrounded by Arabs who want to commit genocide against us. It’s a sickness that will not destroy Israel. It will destroy the Arabs.

That’s how that kind of sickness works. It devours the ones who embrace it.

As my son and I spoke on the phone, I told him he should thank HaShem he wasn’t in the building when the stabbing occurred. He assured me he’d already done that.

My son expresses his gratitude for his safety. If I understood him correctly, he told me that HaShem had indeed been kind to him: he was supposed to have been at the building at about the time the terrorist was in the building. He didn’t get there at that time because he’d decided to get a hair-cut before going there.

He has thanked HaShem. I, too, thank HaShem for his safety.

Two hours later, more terror news came in: in some kind of  combination shooting-car attack at two locations, five, perhaps six Jews were injured, two murdered, this time in what’s called ‘the Gush’, an area ten minutes south of Jerusalem (Elisha Ben Kimon, “Terrorists kills at least one, wounds several in West Bank”, YNET, November 19, 2015). The number of Arab attackers involved was unclear. Within minutes of the attack, YNET reported ‘terrorists’ had been involved. Arutz Sheva reported ‘a terrorist’ (Ari Yashar, “One dead [the initial belief] in Gush Etzion shooting attack”, November 19, 2015). Information will get clearer as police finish cleaning up the scenes of the attacks.

We are at war. ‘Palestinians’ don’t condemn these murders.  They glorify the murderers (“Palestinian football tournament named after murderer ‎who stabbed two to death”, Palestinian Media Watch, November 2, 2015). They believe no one can stop them (“Fatah official: Murdering Israelis is Palestinian ‘right’”, Palestinian Media Watch, November 18, 2015).

We have come to Israel to build our lives in our ancestral homeland. We love this holy land. We are surrounded by barbaric hate.

We don’t care. We're staying.