Blogcritics Comments on Israel: Vehicular Terror Attack Update, Backstory and Analysis

Comment by Ruvy on Israel: Vehicular Terror Attack Update, Backstory and Analysis

Sun, 6 Jul 2008 19:49:12 EDT

Jordan, I took a look at the two sites you provided in comment #20. For my money, MEND is by far the better or the two groups, as it focuses on bettering the condition of Arabs as people. Both Jewish and Arab societies in this country need to heal themselves. Sufism provides a route for Arab Moslems, as does MEND. I fear a solution for us Jews will be far more difficult, but IMO, big elements are increasing spirituality, understanding the Covenants which make us what we are, the loyalty to G-d and respect for the holiness of the Land He gave us....

Comment by Dave Nalle on Israel: Vehicular Terror Attack Update, Backstory and Analysis

Sun, 6 Jul 2008 19:27:32 EDT

I wonder who heard the 'terrorist' shouting Allahu Akbar besides the commando who shot him... Dave

Comment by Ruvy on Israel: Vehicular Terror Attack Update, Backstory and Analysis

Sun, 6 Jul 2008 16:31:40 EDT

After getting this article published here, i sent it out to a few (thousand) close friends and acquaintances. I received this comment from a Christian woman, a German citizen who lives in Jerusalem, doing what she can to learn of the Jewish roots of her own faith, and trying to promote peace here. Please bear in mind while reading this that German, not English, is her native language, and she is communicating as best she can. Dear Reuven, Thank you very much for the analysis of the tractor attack - and the Hebrew terminology! I found it very insightful and helpful. Thank you! I am enclosing a direct eye witness account. It is sickening to realise that such simple facts can be so distorted and exploited for political reasons. How long does Israel still put up with a sick government like ours!? In fact, no terror attack has shaken me as much as the one you discussed. How one can possibly minimise this event goes beyond my understanding. It testified to raw and unrestrained hatred and totally reckless rage - a potential, when once unleashed in the body Israel will turn this, our beloved land, into a slaughterhouse. If anything this event revealed it is this rage and blind hatred passed down by now from the intelligent top to the unknown nobody citizen. Whether this young Arab or our Jewish Olmert, they have this in common: unabated selfishness. It's satanic. It is independent of nationality and political colour. Its realisation shocked me more than any present political agenda! What follows is an eyewitness account of the terror attack that occurred Wednesday, 2 July 2008, around noon. I might note that my own younger son tried getting hold of me on his cell phone around this time, and all the lines were busy. When he finally did get hold of me he was boiling mad at me because I had not thought to call him on his cell. I waited several hours to call him and explain to him that attempting to reach him over lines that were busy was an exercise in futility. Nevertheless, he is a good boy who worries about the old man, and even in his rage, he did me proud. My older son, calling me on a land line from Ma'ale Levona, had no trouble reaching me. Terrorist attack in Jerusalem and "Saved out of Jacob's Trouble" Our youngest son Amiel was present at the terrorist attack yesterday (Wednesday, July 2) in Jerusalem. Here is his eye witness account: I was walking towards the city center from the central bus station, waiting on the corner of Malchei Israel and Jaffa streets. Out of Malchei Israel came a huge bulldozer which drove on top of a car and turned it into a pancake. The bulldozer continued its rampage, trying to run over another blue car. The driver in the blue car was spinning her wheel in panic. I was standing to the right; a bus was on the left. The bulldozer turned into Jaffa Street and went head on into the bus. I was out of harm's way now. The bus continues to drive, turning right, hitting a bus stop filled with citizens running for their lives. He backs up, and continues driving. An orthodox young man passed by me running towards the bus shouting: "Weapon! Does anyone have a weapon?" The bulldozer continued. This time it crashed into a bus on its right, backed up, and then picked up the bus forcing it to fall on its side. The bus was full. I tried calling 100 (the police), but the line was busy. Since I am a volunteer at the Jerusalem rescue squad, I called them at 101. 101: "Hello, this is Red Magen David." Me: "There is a terrorist attack on Jaffa! A tractor is hitting everything it sees." 101: "Where on Jaffa?" Me: "Drive from the station and you'll see. It's at the beginning of Jaffa next to the central bus station." 101: "We're on our way." Armed citizens, soldiers and policemen were running toward the terrorist loading their guns. Out of the upside down bus people were starting to come out. A woman carrying a baby crying, with blood stains all over them came out. A woman was being attended to on the floor, her leg was covered in blood, and her toes were completely crooked. A man came out, stained in blood, shouting in pain, "my shoulder," and cursing the terrorist. I called my mother to tell her I was ok. While I was talking to her, gunshots started going off. "Do you hear the gunshots Mom? They're shooting the terrorist." It turns out that the young religious man who asked for a weapon was a commando soldier on vacation. He succeeded in borrowing a pistol from someone, and climbed up on top of the bulldozer, hand and foot, while the terrorist shouted "Allah Akhbar." He shot the terrorist three times, killing him on the spot, stopping the rampage and slaughter.

Comment by Conrad Dalton on Israel: Vehicular Terror Attack Update, Backstory and Analysis

Sun, 6 Jul 2008 11:54:26 EDT

"The Arab armies entered Palestine to protect the Palestinians from the Zionist tyranny but, instead, they abandoned them, forced them to emigrate and to leave their homeland, and threw them into prisons similar to the ghettos in which the Jews used to live." And the tyranny, prisons, refugees, and ghettos persist to this day. They persist because the US government uses its veto power in the UN to comply with the political interests of AIPAC. The US government is beholden to AIPAC because the Congress is terrorized by it. When AIPAC says jump, virtually every Congressman and Senator climbs over the others to jump higher. It should be clear that the Middle East has been in turmoil for a long time because of AIPAC and the US Congress.

Comment by Ruvy on Israel: Vehicular Terror Attack Update, Backstory and Analysis

Sun, 6 Jul 2008 03:01:57 EDT

Members of the Israeli army and associated Israeli settler paramilitary units have been responsible for the killing of 2,181 'Palestinians' and the injuring of another 22,218 between 29 September 2000 and 14 March 2003. Let's put the blame for all this where it belongs. From a list I belong to: Today their are nearly twice as many Arabs in Israel than prior to the modern State of Israel being established in the region. It was the Arab governments that told the 'Palestinians' to leave their homes in 1948. The rest of the Arabs have always used the 'Palestinians' as a political football and pawns. Former Prime Minister of Syria Khalid al-Azm: has admitted that since:- "1948 it is we who demanded the return of the refugees to their country, while it is we who made them leave it. [...] We brought disaster upon one million Arab refugees, by inviting them and bringing pressure to bear upon them to leave their land, their homes, their work and their industry. We have rendered them dispossessed, unemployed, whilst every one of them had work or a trade by which he could gain his livelihood." [Emphases mine] The Arab National Committee of Haifa, the Arab leadership in Haifa in 1948 admitted:- "[T]he removal of the Arab inhabitants from the town was voluntary and carried out at our request." Habab Issa of Al-Hoda, the leading newspaper for Lebanese Maronites in the United States confessed:- "Brotherly advice was given to the Arabs of Palestine to leave their land, homes and property and to stay temporarily in neighboring, brotherly states, lest the guns of the invading Arab armies mow them down." A Muslim weekly newspaper in Beirut admitted:- "Who brought the Palestinians to Lebanon as refugees, suffering now from the malign attitude of newspapers and communal leaders [...]? The Arab States, and Lebanon amongst them, did it!" Mahmoud Abbas, Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority confessed:- "The Arab armies entered Palestine to protect the Palestinians from the Zionist tyranny but, instead, they abandoned them, forced them to emigrate and to leave their homeland, and threw them into prisons similar to the ghettos in which the Jews used to live."

Comment by Ruvy on Israel: Vehicular Terror Attack Update, Backstory and Analysis

Sun, 6 Jul 2008 02:53:06 EDT

Conrad, If it were me making policy, there would be no terrorists in jail in Israel. They would all be dead. There is no reason that our taxes should have to feed the bastards. We have enough deserving poor who need the help. Rachel Corrie was just a spoiled American mall rat who picked the wrong side of a conflict that was no concern of hers. She decided to side with killers who fed her bullshit that she readily swallowed. I feel sorry for her parents. I'm a father, and I know from experience that losing a child, and having to bury a child is extremely painful for any parent. But the fact that her parents have subsequently picked the same side her daughter did shows their own bad judgment. If I were them, and my child had acted like Rachel Corrie, I'd hang my head in shame realizing what a lousy job I had done transmitting values of right and wrong.

Comment by Ruvy on Israel: Vehicular Terror Attack Update, Backstory and Analysis

Sun, 6 Jul 2008 02:34:25 EDT

A neighbor of mine, who witnessed this terror attack said that the vehicle was neither a tractor nor a bulldozer but a front-end loader. He commented that only Fox News got that part right.

Comment by Ruvy on Israel: Vehicular Terror Attack Update, Backstory and Analysis

Sun, 6 Jul 2008 02:30:43 EDT

I want to second the comments in comment #35. We're seeing something not often seen - Moslems getting up on their hind legs and condemning the terror other Moslems perpetrate. This is a welcome step towards the eventual reconciliation between the Children of Israel and Children of Ishmael, and is good to see. Apparently at this site, we find that there is one specific organization that is inspiring these acts of terror. Citing the Australian newspaper, the Herald-SunMuslims Against Sharia points out that "the Imad Mughnieh unit of the Brigades of the Liberators of the Galilee claimed responsibility for a deadly attack in Jerusalem today in a phone call to AFP. The same group claimed an attack in March on a Jewish seminary in Jerusalem that killed eight people, which they said was revenge for the killing of senior Lebanese Hezbollah commander Imad Mughnieh in Damascus." Note that both terrorists came from Tsur BaHer.

Comment by Dave Nalle on Israel: Vehicular Terror Attack Update, Backstory and Analysis

Sun, 6 Jul 2008 01:13:20 EDT

#34. Conrad. We call that suicided here in the rational world. Dave

Comment by Jewboy on Israel: Vehicular Terror Attack Update, Backstory and Analysis

Sun, 6 Jul 2008 00:16:13 EDT

#29- Your heroic comment is appreciated, especially in the sea of all of the startlingly cold comments on this blog. I wish your organization the best of success.

Comment by Conrad Dalton on Israel: Vehicular Terror Attack Update, Backstory and Analysis

Sat, 5 Jul 2008 10:40:27 EDT

Tit for tat? On 16 March 2003 in Rafah, occupied Gaza, 23-year-old American peace activist Rachel Corrie from Olympia, Washington, was killed by an Israeli bulldozer driver. Rachel was in Gaza opposing the bulldozing of a Palestinian home. Rachel and seven other ISM activists were in the Hi Es Salam area of Rafah, Gaza, trying to prevent the razing of Palestinian land and property. Present were two Israeli occupation army bulldozers and a tank. She was attempting to prevent the illegal demolitions by physically blocking the passage of the two bulldozers. Rachel had been staying in Palestinian homes threatened with illegal demolition, and was standing with other non-violent activists in front of a home scheduled for illegal demolition. According to witnesses, Rachel was run over twice by the Israeli military bulldozer in its process of demolishing the Palestinian home. Initially he dropped sand and other heavy debris on her, then the bulldozer pushed her to the ground where it proceeded to drive over her, fracturing both of her arms, legs and skull. She was transferred to a hospital, where she later died. Photos clearly show that Rachel was well marked and had a megaphone which removes any doubt that her presence was invisible to the driver, and she clearly posed no threat to the bulldozer driver Members of the Israeli army and associated Israeli settler paramilitary units have been responsible for the killing of 2,181 Palestinians and the injuring of another 22,218 between 29 September 2000 and 14 March 2003. In addition to the killing of Rachel Corrie by the bulldozer driver, Israeli troops have shot and killed several other internationals including German doctor Harald Fischer, Italian cameraman Rafaeli Ciriello, and British UN worker Iain Hook.

Comment by commonsense on Israel: Vehicular Terror Attack Update, Backstory and Analysis

Sat, 5 Jul 2008 09:45:23 EDT

Ruvy: ""The reason I post here at all is to balance out the bullshit you all get from the MSM."" Balance and Ruvy?? cute!!

Comment by commonsense on Israel: Vehicular Terror Attack Update, Backstory and Analysis

Sat, 5 Jul 2008 09:42:49 EDT

Ruvy: ""Whether you think this is true or not is irrelevant. It is us, the living in Israel who carry on the mission of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to understand and to continue onwards despite the barbarism of our neighbors. We face the danger, not you. We have for four millennia. It is only for me to try to bring you the truth from Zion. f you choose to reject it, it is your own loss at your own risk."" Would be as cute as a kitten, were it not for...(fill in the blanks)

Comment by commonsense on Israel: Vehicular Terror Attack Update, Backstory and Analysis

Sat, 5 Jul 2008 09:40:04 EDT

chris rose: ""You seem to be sinking into a posture where almost the entire world is your enemy."" but he's always been like this - paranoia and hyperbole are his DNA as it were.

Comment by commonsense on Israel: Vehicular Terror Attack Update, Backstory and Analysis

Sat, 5 Jul 2008 09:37:48 EDT

Ruvy: ""The editor who went over this for Blogcritics Magazine changed the title."" So Ruvy's alleged bias is coming closer home: from BBC to BC....

Comment by Muslims Against Sharia on Israel: Vehicular Terror Attack Update, Backstory and Analysis

Sat, 5 Jul 2008 01:22:16 EDT

Muslims Against Sharia unequivocally condemn murderous attack in Jerusalem. We call for swift extermination of all terrorist groups that claimed responsibility for this attack. We implore Israeli government not to provide financial help for the family of the murderer. Any such help will be an open invitation for future attacks.

Comment by Jordan Richardson on Israel: Vehicular Terror Attack Update, Backstory and Analysis

Fri, 4 Jul 2008 13:26:22 EDT

When someone shoots up a grocery store or a shopping centre, we don't suddenly label it a "terrorist attack." At least in Canada we don't... The term has become a catchall for incidents of all sorts of different variables, I fear, and its overuse is leading more to the dumbing down of the average citizen than any initial skepticism. Not every "attack" is a terrorist attack. I don't see it as a PC issue at all.

Comment by Dan Miller on Israel: Vehicular Terror Attack Update, Backstory and Analysis

Fri, 4 Jul 2008 13:11:43 EDT

Doc, you say (Comment #22),

If this had not been Jerusalem, the possibility of this being organized terrorism would probably not even have entered anyone's heads.

"anyone's heads? Perhaps not those of Martians, reliably reported as having multiple heads. Silly nitpicking aside, you are probably right, but is that a good thing? Or is just possible that political correctness has caused us to avert our eyes and the other things we have in our head(s)? Dan

Comment by Clavos on Israel: Vehicular Terror Attack Update, Backstory and Analysis

Fri, 4 Jul 2008 12:49:15 EDT

Doc #23, Desde luego...

Comment by Jordan Richardson on Israel: Vehicular Terror Attack Update, Backstory and Analysis

Fri, 4 Jul 2008 12:36:52 EDT

You may have a legitimate point, but telling me that is an exercise in futility. You certainly nailed that one.

Comment by Ruvy on Israel: Vehicular Terror Attack Update, Backstory and Analysis

Fri, 4 Jul 2008 12:21:51 EDT

DD, As I told Jordan earlier, go to "Backspin" at HonestReporting and present your views. You may have a legitimate point, but telling me that is an exercise in futility. My article has little to do with this. The foreign press distorting the facts is just the cherry on the cake of journalistic hatred, lies and distortion here. But to know that, you would have to have been at a meeting of the Association of Foreign Journalists here. The reason I post here at all is to balance out the bullshit you all get from the MSM. Based on its history of pro-Arab bias, that it focused on someone being shot on a bulldozer, rather than the obvious big story, the bulldozer driver crazily crashing into a bus and killing people, indicates to me that Honestreporting had every reason to go after the BBC for its headlines. And now, the Sabbath is upon us in Samaria, and I must leave you for 25 hours or so. Catch you on the other side of the weekend. Shabbat Shalom, Ruvy

Comment by Dr Dreadful on Israel: Vehicular Terror Attack Update, Backstory and Analysis

Fri, 4 Jul 2008 12:04:59 EDT

Clav @ #19: Irony, presumably.

Comment by Dr Dreadful on Israel: Vehicular Terror Attack Update, Backstory and Analysis

Fri, 4 Jul 2008 12:02:56 EDT

Ruvy, I watched the BBC video (raw footage, not an edited report with commentary) of the police/soldiers neutralizing the attacker. You can barely even see the guy, let alone tell if he's a Palestinian, a Jew, a Vietnamese or Marvin the Martian. If this had not been Jerusalem, the possibility of this being organized terrorism would probably not even have entered anyone's heads. I don't blame the BBC for being cautious in their early reports. In contrast, Honestreporting (ha!) decided to try, convict and execute without waiting for the evidence.

Comment by Christopher Rose on Israel: Vehicular Terror Attack Update, Backstory and Analysis

Fri, 4 Jul 2008 11:50:25 EDT

Ruvy, so you're mainly concerned about politics, and are essentially using the murders for political ends? Nice. I don't think "we foreigners" are distorting reality; it's rather a case of "can't see the forest for the trees" on your part. We all face our own dangers. Unlike many, you have chosen to move you and your family into a specific set of risks - and knew about them before doing so - based on your faithist views.

Comment by Jordan Richardson on Israel: Vehicular Terror Attack Update, Backstory and Analysis

Fri, 4 Jul 2008 11:35:46 EDT

The elders among the Arabs want peace - and life. The youth want war - and death. This is not necessarily true. Groups like MEND and Palestinians for Peace and Democracy are cropping up all over the place. In all truth, my main concern has been the internal politics of the issue, and not how you foreigners choose to distort reality here. Perhaps this isn't the right avenue, then, what with all of us "foreigners" distorting your version of reality...