Monday marked one of the bloodiest days in Israel in recent months, with the stabbing attack in Tel Aviv, the car attack and stabbing at Alon Shvut, and more violent incidents in Kafr Kana and other Arab communities in Israel.
Sergeant Almog Shiloni, 20, from Modi’in, killed in Tel Aviv, and Dalia Lemkus, 26, who was stabbed to death at the entrance to Alon Shvut in Gush Etzion, were the tenth and eleventh Israelis to be murdered in the past six months. According to Israeli website Ynet, they are the fifth and sixth fatalities in the past month, compared to five Israeli deaths from terror emanating from the West Bank in all of 2012 and 2013 combined.
The Palestinian media called the terror attacks on Monday “Palestinian Knives Day.” Mohammed Al-Sheikh wrote on the Al-Risala website, which is affiliated with Hamas:
Through sticking his knife in the waist of the Zionist entity, the Palestinian fighter is sending a message to the whole world, according to which when he is rebelling no one can stop him. All soldiers in the world cannot stop him when he fights for the protection of the Holy Places. Using a knife, he tore apart the illusion of Israeli occupation, that it assuaged the resistance in the West Bank and Jerusalem.
Hamas said in a statement following the terror attacks:
The attacks come as a form of rebellion against the current Palestinian state in the West Bank and Jerusalem. These attacks should inspire all the Palestinian youth a will do everything they can to protect our people, our land and our holy places.
Islamic Jihad movement also welcomed the attacks:
These are actions of heroes. We welcome this escalation of the intifada of our people.
A security camera caught the brutality of the Alon Shvut attack. Footage showed the Palestinian attacker driving his car into an unsuspecting Dalia Lemkos, knocking her through the air to the side of the road. The camera then shows the attacker get out of the car and viciously and repeatedly stab Lemkos, killing her as she lies helplessly wounded on the ground.
The attacks Monday come after an escalation of incitement against Israel in Palestinian social media as well as from the Palestinian leadership.
[Photo: Maarten Van Damme / flickr]