Hey Jude ~ Birth and death in the West Bank

Corporal Levin and baby Jude

Earlier (here), I posted about the murder of five members of an Israeli family in the community of Itamar - the mother, father and three children aged eleven, four and three months. I promise not to make Quick Brown Fox into a political blog, but there have been some updates...

As they do whenever there's a successful attack,  terrorists celebrated in the streets of Gaza by passing out sweets.  However, Israeli journalist Shlomi Eldar discovered something unusual in the streets of Nablus in the West Bank: ordinary Palestinians expressing disgust and outrage over the murder of the Fogel family.

Shlomi says that in years of reporting from the Palestinian territories this genuinely surprised him; it was the first time Palestinians were volunteering themselves to express such opposition.
 One man said: "The feeling is not good. It’s wrong that something like this could happen. No one wants his son or father or brother to die. People who were in their home, sleeping in their place of security. To go in and murder them with a knife. Where is his heart? Where is his mercy? Where is the humanity? Where? Simply put, the man who does this has no heart, he has nothing."

Hadas Fogel, murdered at age 3 months.
May her name be a blessing.

I hope this is a sign that the Palestinian leadership is out of step with ordinary Palestinians. Just three weeks ago, the Palestinian Authority broadcast a TV show honoring the terrorists of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine. One of the murderers the show praised was Habash Hanani, who committed the last atrocity the people of Itamar suffered. Back in May 2002 Hanani murdered three students in the local high school.

The Palestinian Authority - the people who are supposed to be Israel's peace partners - praise terrorists all the time. They call them heroes and martyrs, and they name streets, schools and summer camps in their honor. I've written about this before here.

Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade has claimed responsibility for this latest atrocity in Itamar. They want the glory of it. In fact, they want the glory of a successful terrorist attack so much that the Brigade often claims attacks committed by other terrorist groups (and likely the murders in Itamar were actually committed by Hamas).

But this time it seems many Palestinians aren't seeing this attack as glorious. In slitting the throat of a three-month old baby, the terrorists apparently went a step too far. Indeed, possibly - hopefully - the revulsion in the streets of Nablus signals a sea change, a recognition that terrorism just kills people and does nothing for the Palestinian cause.

Meanwhile, Israel Defence Forces are all over the West Bank looking for the murderers.  On Sunday there was some excitement when a taxi raced up to the entrance to Neve Tzuf, the settlement where the Fogels are grieving for their murdered son, daughter-in-law and grandchildren. The taxi driver was seeking help for his passenger - a Palestinian woman in advanced labour and facing life-threatening circumstances: the umbilical cord was wrapped around the baby's neck. 

Because of the manhunt for the murderers of the Fogel family, an Israel Defence Forces medic was on hand and went to the woman's aid even before the settlement's own medic could get to her. The IDF medic, Corporal Haim Levin age 19, was able to save both mother and new-born daughter, and an ambulance quickly arrived to transport them to an Israeli hospital.

According to reports, Palestinians from the nearby village of Nabi Salah gathered around the paramedics along with the new grandmother and could not hide their joy.

"They thanked us," said Corporal Levin, "and told us they named the girl Jude."

Shalom, salam, peace to all. - Brian