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Synagogue Slaughter Aforethought

Last Tuesday morning: five Jewish men head to synagogue in Har Nof—to pray for peace.
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November 26, 2014

Last Tuesday morning: five Jewish men head to synagogue in Har Nof—to pray for peace. Same morning: two Palestinians head to same synagogue—to murder them. It has been only one week since the tragic day. In fewer than 48 hours, supporters of the Har Nof community rallied online and raised over $65,000 for the families who lost loved ones in the attack. Personally, this day still haunts my thoughts and perceptions of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

To me, it represents an blatant indication that the recent Israeli-Palestinian conflict has long-surpassed politics. This is not about being soldiers or occupiers. This is about the mere existence of the Jewish people and our prayers for a peaceful coexistance. According to the Times of Israel, “Yaakov Amos had just finished calling silently on God to grant peace everywhere, goodness and blessing; grace, loving kindness and mercy.” These peaceful prayers were met with a blood bath when the Palestinians entered the synagogue with a pistol, knives, and axes, shooting and stabbing the worshipers. Amos witnessed the terrorists shooting the victims, clad in prayer shawls, at point blank range into their heads. Among those killed were one British and three American citizens as well as a Druze Israeli.

As the State of Israel mourned the five dead and others wounded, Hamas called for additional “revenge” attacks, claiming on Al-Aksa TV that the attack was “a reaction to the crimes of the occupation.” Less than two weeks prior, a Palestinian Authority official, Mahmoud Habbash, also called for Jihad against every Israeli as a civil duty for “any Muslim from America to Japan.” On the day of this synagogue rampage, PA's Facebook page extolled the murderers for their “blessed operation.”

A good friend of mine who used to live a couple doors down from this attack wrote me an email last week, lamenting, “The terrorism is painful, heartbreaking, and frightening. But the truth is, there is something far more painful, heartbreaking, and frightening out there than these senseless acts of murder. That thing is not floating about here in Israel, but where you are, out in the rest of the world. While our people are fighting for their lives and desperately trying to protect their people, the rest of the world looks down on us and blames us for this war. There is far too much hate and ignorance thrown at us, and all we are doing is trying to save our own lives. We are being bombed, run over by vans like bowling pins, and murdered in cold blood. Age makes no difference to them, they've taken our children and even recently a small infant. And what is our crime? Do we not do what any other sensible person or nation would do? Stand up to those who are harming us. […] The world around us skews the media and this is more terrifying than any of this terrorism I am living with.”

The headlines? CNN reported “4 Israelis, 2 Palestinians killed in attack in Jerusalem synagogue;” “Deadly attack on Jerusalem Mosque;” and “Police shot, killed 2 Palestinians.” Al Jazeera reported “clashes after attack on Jerusalem synagogue.” On the day of the attack, the Emory (University) Wheel posted an article by Anusha Ravi and Ben Crais arguing that many fewer Israelis have died in this summer's conflict compared to Palestinians, insinuating that this smaller number affirms Israeli immorality. Clearly, for Ravi and Crais, the murder of more Jews in the name of the conflict merely evens the score. Their article makes no mention of the attack that occurred that very day. Also omitted is any reference to the Palestinians’ documented use of human shields to raise their death toll, exploiting the IDF’s morality to malign Israel. They make no attempt to dispel the inference that terrorist slaughter of innocent civilians is morally equivalent to self-defense. And neither does the mainstream media. 

Every such incident breaks our collective Jewish heart. Yet there still exists some hope that it may be THIS attack, THIS innocent life that was taken so that the world will finally wake up and realize that this is not a political fight. This was not an attack on an IDF soldier. This was not even an attack on a resident of a settlement. This was an attack on holy men who were praying for peace. The men killed were never in the army. The never killed a Palestinian. They were simply Jewish individuals practicing their Judaism in the Jewish State. And to Hamas and other Palestinian terrorist organizations, that was their crime, punishable by death in the name of Jihad.

While the fundraising campaign for the mourning families is over and the pro-Israel community has refocused its energy on Iran, let us never forget last week’s attack.

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