Rajab al-Tamimi, 22, from the neighborhood of Issawiya in eastern Jerusalem, drove his motorcycle into Salah Al-Din Street in eastern Jerusalem on Tuesday, shot and critically wounded one policeman, escaped and while being chased shot another policeman. He was shot dead moments later.
Before he left the house on his murderous mission, al-Tamimi wrote a letter to his family. What emerges from the text, translated into Hebrew by NRG, is a strong religious conviction that by killing Jews and becoming a martyr in the process, this young man would get close to Allah.
“Don’t think too much about the reason for my action, I did it in solidarity with the martyrs,” al-Tamimi wrote. The letter was arranged as ten running points, beginning with asking the various Arab terror factions to “not embrace my martyrdom for their own promotion. My death was for the sake of sanctifying Allah.” He insisted that he didn’t want “large posters and pictures after my death, just the acceptable poster.”
“Please don’t sow hatred in the hearts of my brothers after my death,” al-Tamimi asked. “let them discover their faith and their way so that they may die for the cause of martyrdom and not as revenge.”
Addressing the fact that his family’s home would likely be demolished as a result of his terrorist attack, he told his relatives, “If they wish to destroy my home, I say, a stone is not stronger than our faith and our spirit.”
And do dress warmly.
As to the political aspects of his action, al-Tamimi wrote: “Don’t be sad that I died and don’t look for reasons for why I’m dead. Be sad over the existing situation. Don’t search for letters I left before my death. Don’t conduct a mass funeral procession. Don’t turn me into yet another statistic. Remember me.”
He signed his letter rather optimistically, “We’ll meet in Paradise.”
Anyone on the left who has been reciting the ancient mantra about Arab terrorism being about the “occupation,” should read al-Tamimi’s letter and recognize that the zealot who wrote it was not interested in political solutions and that the war he was waging was about the complete annihilation of the Jewish presence in Israel. Sadly, this and all the rest of these events suggest that this is not a time for concessions but for the forceful elimination of the al-Tamimis who are still living among us.