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Murdered: 2 Jews, 1 Arab

Palestinian terror at Har Adar a stunning blow to peace.

I

sraeli Arabs aren’t prime
inclination toward terror. His
targets of Palestinian terror-
wife recently fled to Jordan,
ists taking aim at the Jewish
accusing him of domestic vio-
state. But Israel’s 1.8 million
lence. She left him with their
Arabs can’t always avoid those
four children, according to Shin
sight lines.
Bet, Israel’s security agency.
Israeli Arab Youssef Ottman,
In a Facebook post, Jamal
25, a civilian security guard,
asked his wife to forgive him
Robert Sklar
was one of three Israelis killed
and to care for their children. He
Contributing Editor
by a terrorist at an entrance to
wrote that he understood the
Har Adar, a Jewish suburb of
gravity of what he was about to
Jerusalem along the Green Line,
do, noting it was unrelated to
the pre-1967 divide between
their failed marriage, according
Israel and the West Bank.
to news reports.
Ottman lived in Abu
Ghosh, an Israeli Arab
UNLIKELY TWIST
town with historically
What makes the shooting unusual is that
warm ties to Jews and
Ottman not only was honorably serving
Zionism. He previously a Jewish community, but also was from
had served with the
Abu Ghosh, which last year the Israeli
Israeli Border Police,
newspaper Times of Israel described as
earning plaudits for his having “uniquely friendly relations with
service.
the majority Jewish population in its sur-
Youssef Ottman
Ottman was mur-
roundings.”
dered along with two
Most likely, the shooter didn’t know
Jews: civilian security
where Ottman was from or even that he
guard Or Arish, 25, of
was Arab. By chance, however, the shoot-
Har Adar, and Border
er took down not only two Jews, but also
Police officer Solomon
an Arab from a town radiating a glimmer
Gavriya, 20, of Beer
of coexistence despite being home to a
Yaakov, whose family is cultural center named for Yasser Arafat.
from Ethiopia. The Har The late Palestinian leader made ter-
Adar security coordi-
rorism a cornerstone of his search for
Or Arish
nator, Amit Steinhart,
Palestinian statehood.
33, was seriously
It wouldn’t be a stretch to argue that
wounded.
the three people who Jamal killed were
Heroes all, they
victimized by Palestinian Authority
exemplified coexis-
incitement against anything Israel. The
tence between Israeli
P.A. governs Palestinian-controlled areas
Arabs and Jews, a path of the West Bank — territory economi-
also sharply evident
cally depressed with severe shortages of
in Michigan Jewry’s
water, power and infrastructure.
partnership region in
Most ordinary Palestinians aren’t driv-
Solomon Gavriya
Israel’s Central Galilee. en to commit terror, but there’s no doubt:
News reports
Systematic incitement has persuaded
identified the Har
generations of Arabs to believe Israel,
Adar shooter as Nimr
“the Zionist enemy,” is responsible for
Mahmoud Ahmed
their plight. Indoctrination takes many
Jamal, 37, a father of
forms, but commonly manifests itself in
four from the West
textbooks, music videos, sermons, news
Bank Arab village of
items, sports tournaments, summer
Beit Surik. He had a
camps, social networks, public buildings
legal Israeli permit to
and sites named for terrorists, and sti-
The shooter, Nimr
work in West Bank
pends to terrorists and their families.
Mahmoud Ahmed
settlements.
The deduction could be made that
Jamal
Jamal was approach- Jamal was seeking “martyrdom for
ing Har Adar with
Allah,” a pillar of P.A. indoctrination. P.A.
other Palestinian workers when Border
leadership blames any pitfall not on its
Police officers, suspicious of his jacket
corruption, culture of hate and aversion
given September’s heat, asked him to
to negotiating, but on Israeli settlements,
stop. He proceeded to pull out a gun and which lie on disputed land with strong
historic ties to the Jewish people; on
open fire before being shot and killed.
Israel’s military presence in the West
Before the Sept. 26 attack, 200
Bank, in truth a defensive “occupation”
Palestinians had permits to work at Har
against Palestinian terror; and on Israel’s
Adar.
sea and land blockade of the Gaza
The attack shocked Har Adar resi-
Strip, ruled by the terrorist organization
dents, who had grown to trust Jamal,
Hamas.
unaware of his troubled home life and

In condemning the attack at Har Adar,
the U.S. Embassy in Israel singled out
how the P.A. glorifies terrorists.

THE AFTERMATH

Fatah, the P.A.’s lead political faction,
mourned the death of its “heroic martyr,
Nimr Mahmoud Ahmed Jamal,’’ reported
Israel-based Palestinian Media Watch.
Hamas branded Jamal’s attack “a new
chapter” in the Jerusalem uprising and
“a confirmation from the uprising youth
that the fighting will continue until the
complete freedom of the people and the
land.”
While Fatah claims to recognize
Israel’s right to exist (despite an anti-
Zionist governmental drumbeat), Hamas
wants to destroy it.
The P.A. eyes an Israeli-free Palestinian
state in the West Bank and the Gaza
Strip with the Arab-dominated eastern
sector of Jerusalem (under Jordanian
control from 1948 until Israel captured it
the Six-Day War of 1967) as its capital.
It’s uncertain how the latest act of
Palestinian terror will affect Israeli policy
toward the thousands of Palestinian
workers with work permits. Israel needs
laborers. And most Palestinians, grudg-
ingly or otherwise, depend on Israel for
their livelihoods and dreams of better
lives. Still, the vetting process for the
coveted work permits and the concur-
rent ease of passage they allow should be
scrupulously reviewed.

SEEKING PEACE

With each new Palestinian act of terror,
U.S. envoy Jason Greenblatt’s efforts to
promote existing accords and coopera-
tive prospects in hopes of improving the
climate for another negotiating round
become more strained.
While a two-state solution to the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict remains the
goal when conditions are right, Israel’s
security must never be compromised in
the pursuit of peace.
P.A. President Mahmoud Abbas’
double-talk in a speech to the United
Nations General Assembly on the day
terror struck Har Adar doesn’t help mat-
ters.
First, Abbas saluted “our glorious mar-
tyrs” (outright terrorists) and “our coura-
geous prisoners in Israeli jails” (most of
whom are linked to terrorism).
Then Abbas imagined either “the inde-
pendence of the state of Palestine, living
side by side in peace and security with
the State of Israel on the 1967 borders” (a
view militarily indefensible given Israel’s
very narrow mid-point) or “equal rights
for all of the inhabitants of the land of
historic Palestine from the river to the
sea” — a defiant, utterly senseless scenar-
io that would spell the end of Israel. •

Who Is ‘Morally
Perplexed?’

A Sept. 28 letter writer can’t deny
the current president was “morally
perplexed,” calling white suprema-
cist demonstrators “fine people.” To
deflect, he attacks former President
Obama with irrelevant issues and flat-
out lies.
President Obama didn’t “swoon”
over Reverend Wright. He worshipped
at his church. When a people has been
systematically oppressed by major-
ity culture, sometimes the rhetoric of
resistance becomes extreme without
being literal.
President Obama did not slight
Netanyahu. “Specifically, [ former
Ambassador Michael] Oren explained
his consistent “frustration” over the
vicious “snub” rumor that has been
circulating since Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to the
United States in March (Source:
JACPAC).
Great Britain, China, France,
Germany and Russia joined the U.S.
on the Iran Agreement. As of July 2017,
the administration confirmed Iran is
in compliance, and extended the sanc-
tions relief given in exchange for curbs
on its atomic program. (The Guardian,
April/July, 2017.)
Also false — Iran was “given” $150
billion. From Politifact, March 2016:
“The deal only releases assets frozen
because of Iran’s nuclear program.
Assets blocked because of other sanc-
tions (on terrorism, human rights and
missile technology) won’t change as a
result of the agreement.”
The U.N. resolution had no force,
did not cede the Wall and represented
no new stance on international criti-
cism of settlements. According to the
Brookings Institution, December 2016:
“The U.S. abstention — the focus of
a great deal of personal rage against
Obama by Netanyahu and others
— was not new either. In 1987, the
Reagan administration abstained and
allowed the passage of UNSCR 605 …
the George W. Bush administration
voted in favor of UNSCR 1515, which
called … for a full settlement freeze
… In fact, until this latest resolution,
Obama had been the only president
not to let a resolution critical of Israeli
policy pass in the Security Council.”
President Obama didn’t select DNC
leaders. Ellison and Soros are not anti-
Semites just because the letter-writer
says so. Political criticism of Israel isn’t
anti-Semitism.
The current president is “morally
perplexed” if not altogether amoral. No
amount of lies can distract from the
shame he has brought to our country.

Cynthia Brody
Beverly Hills

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October 12 • 2017

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