Terrorists who perpetrate attacks are not who 'experts' say they are - opinion

• Published date: 21 March 2024
• Author: MOSHE PHILLIPS
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

Supposedly, the "typical" Palestinian Arab terrorist is a young Palestinian Arab man, single, uneducated, and unemployed, who turns to violence because of his difficult personal circumstances

But the terrorist who was shot dead while throwing firebombs at Israelis near Ramallah on March 4, Mustafa Abu Shalbak, was just 16.

The next day, a Palestinian Arab terrorist named Muhammad Shehadeh stabbed and seriously wounded an Israeli near Bethlehem. The would-be murderer was 17.

And the day after that, a Palestinian Arab stabbed and wounded an elderly Israeli man standing at a bus stop in Jerusalem's Neve Yaakov neighborhood.

Not only was the attacker just 14 – presumably too young to fit the profile of the "typical" terrorist – but he was a resident of Jerusalem, and Jerusalem's Arabs are supposedly more "moderate" than those who live in the Palestinian Authority territories. Well, not much moderation was on display in that attack.

The terror attacks continue

There were more "unlikely" terrorists in the days to follow. Near Bethlehem on March 13, Muhammad Abu Hamed, age 15, stabbed and wounded two Israelis, one of them a teenager.

The terrorist in a March 14 attack, Fadi Abu Altayef, was a married man. Supposedly, Arab men who have spouses are less likely to murder Jews, because they have something to lose – if they are killed while committing terrorism, or are imprisoned, their wives and children if they have any will suffer.

Moreover, Abu Altayef was an Israeli citizen – which supposedly indicates that he was loyal and peaceful.

Apparently, none of this mattered. He stabbed an Israeli man to death, and wounded three others, in a coffee shop near Beersheba. Not exactly an Israeli "settlement." No "occupiers" in sight. The attack was in pre-1967 Israel. But the victims were guilty of a very serious offense, in Fadi's eyes: drinking coffee while being Jewish.

On March 16, the terrorist was a Muslim clergyman. Members of the clergy are supposed to be "people of peace." Aren't we always being told that Judaism and Islam are "Abrahamic faiths" that share a vision of a peaceful world? Apparently the vision of Mahmoud Nofal, Imam of Hebron's Al-Qassam Mosque, was not quite so peaceful.

Armed with a Kalashnikov rifle – one can only wonder how he obtained it – Imam Nofal staked out a position in the city's Jewish cemetery and began shooting at nearby Jewish homes. Fortunately, Israeli soldiers eliminated the imam before he managed to massacre his targets.

The notion...