Optometrist Chaya Shames says she cares for both Israelis and Palestinian Authority Arabs in her Israel-based practice, and she treats both equally.
She also teaches Israeli and PA Arab students equally, she says. Co-existence is central to her belief. In that, she is a lot like Rabbi Yehuda Glick; but that’s no surprise because Shames is Glick’s sister.
What is a surprise — at least to her — is the way Arab leadership is responding to the targeted assassination attempt against her brother.
In a post on the Facebook social networking site, Shames wrote that she could not understand how it was possible for the leader of the Palestinian Authority to comfort the family of the man who tried to murder her brother as if he had risen to sainthood.
“Last Wednesday night at 10 pm my dear brother Yehudah Glick came out of a lecture and an evil Muslim man tried to kill him because he, as a Jew, encourages people to pray on the Temple Mount — the place of the Jewish Temple.
“While brother is fighting for his life Abu Mazen, the Palestinian president (ed: the terrorist name of PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas) sent condolences to the murderer’s family. He was shot when he tried to kill the police when they came to arrest him.
“Is that a peace-seeking man?
“The murderer was a Palestinian working in Israel after serving in jail for other attempted murders.
“My brother has six children of his own and two foster children as well as being a legal guardian to six more children of his friends who were murdered by a terrorist on their way home on the road.
“No matter what your political inclination is, there is right and wrong and good and bad. I need to spread this to the world. There are good guys and bad guys; please tell the world.
“The right to pray to any G-d anywhere is not a provocation. Shooting a hardworking man is. This is basic, no matter what your nationality is. Please share the truth, so our suffering is not in vain.”
At JewishPress.com, we elected to respect Chaya Shames’ wishes and share this truth. We hope our readers will do the same, and forward this article to relatives and friends.
Shooting someone in cold blood is provocation — and attempted murder.