Last Shabbat morning, a 42-year-old Arab man drove into the Jewish farm of Sde Efraim, located in the western Binyamin region east of Kiryat Sefer. He got out of his car with a knife or other sharp object and chased an Israeli civilian, intending to stab him. As seen in a video of the incident, the Israeli shot and killed the terrorist a second before the terrorist reached him.
Despite the clear video documentation of the stabbing attempt, Reuters headlined the story, “Palestinian killed by Israeli in West Bank, Palestinians say.” The headline was accompanied by a picture of the terrorist’s mother crying.
Here’s Al Jazeera’s headline: “Palestinian man shot dead in occupied West Bank.”
The first two paragraphs of the accompanying article read, “A Palestinian man has been shot dead in the occupied West Bank in the latest incident of violence as it surges in the territory where the number of those killed by the Israeli army this month has risen to 18, including four children.”
“The Palestinian Ministry of Health said on Saturday that 42-year-old Tariq Maali was shot in the city of Ramallah, adding he was killed ‘after the occupation [Israeli forces] opened fire on him’ near the Palestinian village of Kafr Nama,” the article added.
Do not confuse antisemites with the facts.
We should keep our eyes open and not shrink from confronting evil criticism or actions.
In the past, when the Jews were vulnerable, the antisemites celebrated. I hope that the message that Jewish blood is not cheap will spread, and the agents of evil will stop their insane actions.
As I have said in the past, the Israeli government must stop allowing vicious incitement and deception everywhere.
This will be the first step.
Next, Israel must make a serious effort to expose the perpetrators of deception and incitement and more widely disseminate the documented facts.
It will not be easy, but it is a step in the right direction.
May we hear only good news in the future.
Dr. Shmuel Katz was born in Hungary and raised in Israel. He served as an IDF officer in the Six-Day War and gained extensive trauma experience during the 1973 Yom Kippur War. He is double-boarded in surgery; a fellow of the Israeli Surgical Society, the American College of Surgeons and other medical societies; and is on the board of many pro-Israel organizations.
Originally published by Israel National News.
