Mossi Raz, who’s running for the job of Secretary General of Meretz, Israel’s extreme left-wing party, on Thursday issued the following Facebook post after the murder of two Jews and the wounding of two more in a Tel Aviv synagogue, by an Arab from Hebron:
“Shaken and condemning the bloody and criminal deed in the synagogue on Ben Zvi Street in Tel Aviv.
“It has become more and more apparent that the right-wing actions like construction in the settlements and the outlawing of the northern branch of the Islamic Movement not only fail to stop the violence, they are just pouring gasoline on the fire. This will not be over until we talk.”
Raz received 32 likes so far, and a very long string of replies that called him every name under the sun and included one inquiry about his parents being siblings. Many mentioned Arab stabbing murders of Jews in Israel before it was called Israel, and decades before the “occupation.” Most commenters were offended by Raz’s seemingly arbitrary picking of two recent headlines as the motives for the murder.
But then Hamas and PFLP welcomed the Tel Aviv terrorist double murder and called for continued attacks. A Hamas spokesman abroad made a connection between the attack and Israel’s decision to hold (some of) the bodies of terrorists. Of course, Hamas has held on to the bodies of two Israeli soldiers for more than a year now, but who’s counting.
So there’s still quite a gap between the Meretz position urging more talking and Hamas’s urging more Jew killing.
Deputy Defense Minister Rabbi Eli Ben-Dahan (Bayit Yehudi) noted that “yesterday marked the one year anniversary of the terrible massacre in the synagogue in Har Nof, Jerusalem, and there’s a terrible attack again.”
“Terror is terror, and it does not matter where it takes place,” Ben-Dahan said. “Its origin is the Palestinian leadership that encourages it, and only the demolition of terrorists’ houses and the expulsion of their families immediately after the attack takes place would deter the next perpetrator.”
Meanwhile, at about the same time the Arab terrorist stabbed his victim in a Tel Aviv synagogue, the state informed the High Court that it had begun the demolition of a different synagogue, over in Givat Ze’ev, Jerusalem, preparing the plot for its return to an alleged original Arab owner.
Incidentally, according to a report on Israel’s Channel 10 News, the terrorist, a resident of the Dura village near Hebron, had a legal permit to stay and work in Israel. Perhaps what Israelis need right now is a better vetting system for PA Arabs seeking permits to enter Jewish areas. Or, better yet, no permits at all.