OpinionU.S.-Israel Relations

Biden targets an Israeli baker who shot a terrorist

When the United States replaces a "Muslim travel ban" with an Israeli one.

Elor Azaria during a hearing at a military court in Tel Aviv, April 14, 2016. Photo by Flash90.
Elor Azaria during a hearing at a military court in Tel Aviv, April 14, 2016. Photo by Flash90.
Daniel Greenfield
Daniel Greenfield is an Israeli-born journalist who writes for conservative publications.

Eight years ago, Elor Azaria, an Israel Defense Forces medic, arrived at the scene of a terrorist attack in the biblical Jewish city of Hebron. Two Islamic terrorists had been shot after attacking IDF soldiers. One of the terrorists, wearing a heavy coat in springtime weather, was still alive, and Elor suspected that he had a suicide-bomb vest hidden underneath the coat.

The soldiers on the scene were uncertain as to what to do, and Elor took the shot to save their lives.

The Islamic terrorist attack had been timed for the Jewish holiday of Purim, but the party was just getting started. An Arab-Muslim activist filmed the shooting and provided video footage of it to the anti-Israel leftist group B’Tselem, which is backed by George Soros and the Ford Foundation.

Even though evidence by a leading pathologist showed that the terrorist was already dead when Elor fired his shot, the young soldier was dragged through a trial that traumatized his parents and divided the country. Polls showed that 63% of Israelis opposed his conviction.

“The commanders didn’t know what to do,” Elor’s platoon sergeant testified, stating that “as long as the terrorist is moving, he is a threat.”

Despite clear evidence that Elor had acted legitimately and hadn’t even killed the terrorist, the combination of international pressure and a leftist Israeli judiciary led to his unfortunate conviction. The young soldier was sentenced to 18 months in prison. And that seemed to be the end of it.

In the summer of 2018, he was released from prison and opened a bakery. The “Victory” bakery, run by Elor and his brother, sells chocolate donuts, cakes, challahs and croissants.

Now, eight years later, the Biden administration has sanctioned Elor and his entire family.

Instead of using watch lists to keep Islamic terrorists out of America, U.S. President Joe Biden is putting those who kill Islamic terrorists on watch lists.

The U.S. State Department issued a press release accusing the baker of “gross violations of human rights.”

According to the Biden administration, “Azaria, as a former IDF sergeant, qualifies as a foreign government official.”

Describing a baker who last served in the Israeli military eight years ago as a “foreign government official” is quite a stretch—as is the claim that the move aims to promote stability in the West Bank. Elor lives in Ramle, which is not at all in the West Bank.

But the same administration that not only funds actual Islamic terrorists in Israel, but has allowed them to flood America through its open border, has announced that Elor “and any immediate family members are generally ineligible for entry into the United States.”

There’s no actual basis for believing that Elor, who has a bakery in Israel, was trying to come to America.

Still, now Elor and his dad, Charlie, a retired police officer, his mother, Oshera, his brother and sister, a doctor, and his five-year-old nephew are barred from entering America. Meanwhile Islamic terrorists, cartel bosses and gang members are welcome to cross the southern border.

The Biden administration denounced Trump’s “Muslim ban” and instead replaced it with an “Israeli ban.” To quality for the Israeli ban, all you need to do is stand up to Islamic terrorists.

We recently learned that more than 400 illegal alien invaders were smuggled in by an ISIS-linked network, and that more than 370 persons on the terror watchlist were caught crossing the border. Open borders have been a golden era for Islamic terrorists from around the world.

And the Biden administration is keeping the border open while warning a Jewish baker who shot an already dead Islamic terrorist years ago, not to mention his five-year-old nephew, not to even think about visiting. Unlike the Jordanian who tried to infiltrate a military base, the Chechen shot by a colonel and the Somali illegal in Minnesota who was a member of the al-Shabaab terror group.

Like Kyle Rittenhouse and Daniel Perry, Elor Azaria had his life turned upside down for doing the right thing, because the left saw him as a useful example for intimidating patriots.

“Serving in the Israeli military was a dream of mine from a young age,” he told a reporter. “I had planned out everything. To be a medic, to be an outstanding soldier and to make it into the IDF. Everything was going well until the event, and from there everything changed. But fine, in the face of a big dream that has been canceled, there is another big dream.”

After leaving prison, he worked in a pizza shop and then tried to gain experience in the catering business, but his record kept him from being able to find work. Still, he persevered and gained experience doing unpaid work until he was finally ready to open his own bakery.

And he was working on publishing a book about his experiences, From Darkness to Light, a pun on his first name, “Elor,” which means: “God is my light.”

Elor spent years working to get this far, and Biden warning him not to come to a country that he wasn’t even planning on visiting is not likely to make him give up on his dreams.

“My faith has always been strong, but it has become even stronger in the last two years,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Biden administration wants to bring Arab Muslims from the terror territory of Gaza to America. And after his disastrous retreat from Afghanistan, Biden flooded America with invaders from Afghanistan, who have no right to be here, but whom he keeps trying to legalize.

The pro-terrorist administration has also announced another $100 million in “aid” to the Islamic-terrorist population occupying parts of Israel’s West Bank and Gaza. That’s part of the $774 million sent to these terrorist areas by Biden since the Hamas atrocities of Oct. 7.

The Biden administration welcomes terror migration but is terrified of anti-terrorists, even if they’re making donuts, because they are a living reminder of everything wrong with its policies.

“I have no regrets, nothing. My answer will not change even if I live to be 100 years old. If I were to go back to those seconds at the event in Hebron, I would do exactly the same thing,” Elor told a reporter. “Because I acted properly.”

What does the Biden administration really fear? Those who do the right thing.

The opinions and facts presented in this article are those of the author, and neither JNS nor its partners assume any responsibility for them.
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