חשיפה: שלושת מבצעי הפיגוע בהר הבית הבוקר הם תושבי אום אל-פאחם ממשפחת ג’בארין
NOTE: The two Israeli police officers originally listed in “extremely critical condition” have since died. The Israeli gag order was partially lifted last night. But the names of the attackers have yet to be released via Israeli media.
Israeli security services have refused to release to Israeli media any information about the attackers who allegedly carried out a daring assault on Israeli police at the Temple Mount (Haram al Sharif) today. But a confidential source tells me that they were members of the Jabarin clan from Umm al Fahm, a town located just inside the Green Line in northern Israel. All three of the attackers were named Mohammad. Two were born in 1998 and one in 1987, making them 18 and 29 years old. I’m displaying their Israeli ID cards.
The video was uploaded by Palestinians and shows the shooting in which one of the attackers was riddled with scores of bullets. Though Israeli police are calling this a firefight, that’s not what this particular video shows. It shows a Palestinian who gets up from the ground surrounded by armed police. He begins to run away from them (and I don’t see any weapon in his hands). And they fire at him until he falls to the ground dead. You see the body of the same individual below. The video does not show the other two alleged attackers. But this Facebook post published by the participants just before the attack, shows two of them before the Dome of the Rock with the Arabic caption: “Tomorrow’s smiles will, God willing, be more beautiful.” This would indicate that they had planned such an attack.
One alarming element of this incident is that the shooters were Israeli citizens, not West Bank Palestinians. Until recently, Israeli Palestinians largely eschewed violence against their own state. But clearly, with Israel’s increasing provocations against Muslim worship this is changing. The town is one of the centers of the northern branch of the Islamic Movement, whose leader Imam Raed Salah, has been persecuted by Israeli security services for years, including multiple jail sentences on largely trumped-up charges. The government recently outlawed the Islamic Movement, which likely had the effect of sending the more radical of its members underground. The function such repression serves is to drive legitimate protest movements into the shadows so that incidents like this result.
As reader Danny writes in a comment below, the police victims were Druze. These are the grunts of the Israeli security services. They worship a variant of Islam, but consider themselves to be allies of the Israeli Jewish majority. They serve in the IDF, unlike most other Palestinians. They consider themselves different and superior to Palestinians, in a process much like the colonial effort to fragment colonized peoples by showering favors on one minority to the detriment of another. In some sense, the Druze are victims of a different kind in Israel’s “war” against Palestinians.
It was an extraordinary security lapse for Israel’s Border Police to permit the militants to enter the Noble Sanctuary armed with guns, since everyone is searched for precisely this reason. Though the Palestinians are being called “terrorists” in media outlets like the Wall Street Journal, I’m less willing to jump to such blanket assertions. Just last week, there were videos of these same Border Police invading the al-Aqsa mosque and firing tear gas canisters into the sacred site with worshippers fleeing in panic. These officers are among the most brutal and violent of all Israeli security forces.
Were anyone to assault the Kotel Plaza or Jerusalem’s Great Synagogue in the same manner, the Israeli Jewish response would be the same. Imagine batons beating worshippers and tear gas canisters flying through the aisles and defiling Torah scrolls at the Kotel.
Such security incursions are deeply offensive to all Muslims. Also note, that though there was a alleged gunfight, only police were injured, with two in “extremely critical condition” at the hospital. One officer was lightly wounded. This was not an attack on civilians. It was an attack on Israeli occupiers who are usurping and defiling a Muslim holy site.
Further, Israel is the one who has made this a religious war as it just announced that settler leaders like MK Yehudah Glick would once again be permitted to enter the Haram and lead his campaign to destroy the Muslim mosques in order to rebuild the Holy Temple there. Thanks to Israel’s far-right government this has moved from a political struggle to a religious one, with all the fanaticism that the latter sorts of conflicts can muster. If you transform the conflict into a religious holy war, you will get fanatical true believers on both sides (and let’s not forget the many Jewish terrorists who’ve done the same) who will act in God’s name in this manner.
“who allegedly carried out a daring assault”
You couldn’t write a sentence that will show more support for the attack. So it is only ‘alleged’ that an attack has happened but you can already say that it was daring.
It is OK you don’t use the word terror about these attacks just don’t pretend you don’t fully support them as a legitimate weapon against Israel
@ Aaron Cohen: Before I moderate you for lying about my views, I want to point out the various inanities in your comment. First, I could easly have written a sentence showing more support for the attack. But I didn’t. I continue to oppose violence on both sides. That being said, if Israel wishes to defile Muslim holy sites as it does regularly, then there will be a Muslim response and it will be as harsh as the Israeli actions defiling those sites. So no, I don’t condemn this act as I would if civilians had been killed. If Israel withdrew its goons from the Haram al Sharif and made it truly open to Muslim prayer, then of course I would denounce such killings (on both sides). But Israel has only itself to blame for this.
Second, at the time I wrote the post I didn’t know for sure how the event transpired. I had no visual proof that the Palestinians attacked the Border Police. My post reflected the uncertainty at that time.
Third, I don’t “fully support” Palestinian terror attacks as I’ve made clear. For deliberately mischaracterizing my views, and because you have been warned about past rule violations, you you are now moderated. Any comments which follow the rules will be published. Comments you attempt to publish which don’t may lead to your banning here.
I can’t lie about your views but I can interpret them which is exactly what I did. I also didn’t say you support terror attacks bc you define them differently which I believe can be done (as I wrote).
And a challenge – please link the last time you have condemned an attack against civilians.
@ Aaron Cohen:
Sure you can lie about them. And you did. Your “interpretation” was bollocks as you are.
As for challenging me about anything…you should know that people like you don’t challenge me to anything. I don’t respond to “challenges.” If you want to know when I’ve condemned terror attacks you haven’t read enough of this blog. I have. Now you go find them. And don’t you dare ever say or impute that I support terrorism.
I didn’t say you support terrorism bc you don’t define these acts as terrorism.
Or do you?
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The two Israeli Palestinian officers who were in “extremely critical condition” passed.
They were Druze – Israel’s version of Uncle Tom. I used to do reserve military duty in the IDF, and I’ve had some deep conversations with IDF soldiers of Druze descent. Some of these guys are absolutely fanatical in their hatred of Palestinians and they revel in their roles as Israel’s enforcers in the Occupied Territories. Many Druze volunteer to go into the border police, which is Israel’s version of the Waffen SS.
Chalk Israel’s usage of Druze soldiers up as yet another heartless crime of Zionism – to turn Arab brothers against each other and cause them to hate one-another. Zionism truly is a hate-based ideology.
Druze are not Arabs and have been considered ‘infidels’ for approx 1000 yrs.. They have been persecuted by Islam so can you blame them for now being able to take a stand?
” which is Israel’s version of the Waffen SS.”
seems to me a rather ‘racist’ statement for this blog aside from being totally incorrect.
@ shaul: Druze aren’t “taking a stand” by siding with Israeli Jews and oppressing their fellow Palestinians. They’re victims of conventional divide & conquer tactics of colonial regimes.
As for the Border Police likened to the Waffen SS. I’m fine with the analogy. I have documented here scores of times the most brutal, vicious, heinous, & callous of crimes by the Border Police against Palestinians. They are vile. As for this comparison being “racist,” you’re off your nut. There’s nothing racist about it at all unless you feel that criticizing the brutality of the Border Police is somehow a statement about all Jews or all members of some unspecified “race.”
The thing is though, that the two officers killed weren’t Magavnikim or Border Police. They were just regular policemen. Magavnikim wear olive green uniforms and carry assault rifles, helmets etc. They have a small presence at the Temple Mount/Haram al Sharif and are called in in case of riots/disturbances etc. The regular police wear dark blue uniforms and are armed with pistols. They are the ones that guard the entrances to the Temple Mount/Haram al Sharif and most of their job entails making sure that non-Muslims enter only through the Mugrabi Gate at the assigned times. You may want to consider correcting the error in your post. You wrote “The two Israeli Border Police officers originally listed in “extremely critical condition” have since died.” whereas the NYT piece you cited listed the victims as “Israeli police officers.” Not the same.
@pea: My reporting was based on Israeli media reports at the time. I am now researching the issue & will correct if it’s warranted. If you make claims like this it’s always helpful if you offer a link to a credible source, so I can confirm it for myself.
[comment deleted: if your comment doesn’t apply directly to the subject of the post & have a real, substantive argument, then don’t bother.]
Well, my immediate source was the NYT article that you cited. Otherwise I don’t know of any web site that outlines the different uniforms of the Israel police. Here in Israel it’s kind of common knowledge – I mean we see the olive uniformed guys and their crest reads “Mishmar HaGvul” whereas the regular police crest reads “Mishtarat Yisrael” – what I related to you is based on common knowledge and observation which you can easily corroborate with anyone else that lives in Israel. I would have provided a link if I could find it….
@ pea: I did confirm you were right about the victims being regular police & corrected accordingly.
@ Shaul
“Druze are not Arabs”
What the hell are you talking about ? Of course they are, their native tongue is Arabic, and they are Arabs.
I also don’t agree with the description of Druze in the article and by Danny; There are Druze like that, of course, but there are also many Druze who consider themselves part of the Palestinian people and refuse to serve in the army (they tend to be very quiet about that out of respect for their community but that’s changing since Omar Saad, the musician went public with his refusal)
As well Electronic Intifada as 972mag have published many articles on Druzes.
At lastly, the most famous Palestinian poet after Mahmoud Darwish is Samih al-Qasim , a Druze from the Galilee. He went to prison on various occasion for his political work, he died of cancer during the 2014 Israeli agression on Gaza, and he used to say that his cancer was nothing compared to the cancer that was eating up his homeland, …
@ Deir Yassin: I didn’t mean to say that there aren’t Druze who are dissidents and who resist. I am talking about the overall history of relations between Druze & the State and the general views in the community toward participation in the security forces, as I understand them. I would be delighted if these views continued to change in the direction you note.
Just because someone’s mother tongue is Arabic does not make him an Arab/Semite. According to what I have read they are of Caucasian origin. I have lived near them for almost 50 years and from what I have read and observed this seems to be true. There facial characteristics are not Semitic and as you are probably aware they do not accept converts and never have.
Theoretically they are sort of a ‘pure race’ to themselves.
Contrary to public knowledge they don’t keep their religion so much to themselves as I was invited once to study ”tawhid” with them which surprised me.
I would change the phrase ‘taking a stand’ to them being mercenaries because that was their existential position in the ME seeing they are considered infidels by Islam and had no other choice.
They committed pogroms in the 1930’s against the Jews in the north of Israel but when after ’48 they aligned with Israel.
The large community in the north at the border with Syria, Majid al-Shams, don’t want to change to Israeli citizenship in case the area goes back to Syria they fear reprisal from Asad.
Some Druze call themselves Druze and others identify as Arab. So to define them presents many problems.
But I will repeat myself that in my contact with them {even if you want to call them Arabs} they have a much diff mentality as do many Christian Arabs who are much more open.
I recently spoke to a pharmacist doing ‘stage’ who happened to be from Majid al-Shams and I asked him where he studied and he told me Syria{his knowledge of Hebrew was quite poor} and I asked him considering the war going on there how he could have done it. He told me he just made it out in time.
link to interesting article on this ‘problem’: http://theconversation.com/solving-the-1-000-year-old-mystery-of-druze-origin-with-a-genetic-sat-nav-68550
@ shaul:
Who made you an ethnologist? Or a linguist? In fact, one of the major determining factor in being classified as Arab is speaking Arabic. As for what you’re “read,” I couldn’t give a fig what you’ve read. Nor do I care who you’ve lived among. You don’t know what you’re talking about.
You have the chutzpah to talk about “facial characteristics” as a determiner of ethnic identity? Are you daft? You’re going back to the racist pioneers who measured faces and head sizes to determine racial classification and level of intelligence. These were the ones who led to the Holocaust? Is that the direction you want to go???
I just love to see you talk about these matters as indicators of “mentality.” By which you mean that Druze have a “good” mentality because they’re willing to serve as grunts, slaves & lackeys to Israeli Jews. Yes indeed they are more “open.” You offer them a few crumbs from the table and they are grateful their ‘massa’ thought of them.
Please don’t comment further in this thread. You’re embarrassing yourself & the rest of us. Besides, I know you could drone on & on about your good friends among the Druze. I can’t tell you how many of you hasbarists have passed off your alleged anecdotal personal experiences with “good Arabs” as indicators that you know something about them in a larger sense. You don’t.
@Mr Silverstein
” Though Israeli police are calling this a firefight, that’s not what this video shows. ”
http://www.ynetnews.com/home/0,7340,L-3083,00.html
Quite the contrary. So much for the video evidence.
No little girls with scissors this time. No matter, they are all killed, and they are all terrorists.
meh this isnt going to help the Palestinian cause. Attacks against civilian targets can be argued to be attacks against the Israeli State. The minute you throw religion in there in any form it connects the Islamic attackers with other religious extremists in the area plus invites the argument that the Jews are religiously entitled to conquer Palestine. Course getting anyone to do anything these days prob requires religious radicals and religious radicals want religious targets.
@ Joe: Care to let us in on the secret plan which will help the Palestinian cause? Coz we’re all ears. Nothing’s worked so far and Israel remains intransigent & holding the upper hand.
THis was not an attack against a “civilian target” nor, as a Muslim holy site, against the Israeli state. Though of course the Border Police victims were state personnel tasked with inciting Muslims to rage & violence.
I don’t think Temple Mount wannabe destroyers of Haram al Sharif need any persuasion or help in making their argument. This attack will neither help nor hinder them in advancing their cause. But fake arguments like yours might.
Welll I am in favor of returning to stabbing civilians..it was empowering and didnt invoke Muslim extremism internationally. But ya no magic plan because not all stories have a happy ending. I dont see a wining hand at this point. Assimilate or become a captive stagnate people like NA/First Nations.
@ Joe: Palestinians CAN’T assimilate because Israeli Jews won’t let them. Nor can Israeli Jews even develop an Israeli national identity that is separate from religion. So what would Palestinians assimilate to??
As for the weapons used in terror attacks, I don’t think we get a choice about which weapons they use in the attacks. Personally, I’d prefer both sides going back to bows & arrows (or better yet, rocks). There would be a lot less dead.
You corrected your mention of border police in your original piece but your response to this comment still stands.
Israeli citizens murdering Israeli policemen (including shooting one in the back) seems to me an act of domestic terrorism.
Do you consider Israeli police officers civilian or military targets?
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@ guilty: Israeli police are about as militaruzed as police can be. Not to mention that the director of “Arab affairs” for the Jerusalem Police is none other than Doron Zahavi, the infamous rapist of Mustafa Dirani. So yes, Israeli police are not civilians by any stretch of the imagination.
As for domestic terrorism, it all depends on whose perspective you employ . If you have the perspective of the white, Israeli Jewish oppressing majority then it’s terror. But if you have the perspective of the 6 million Palestinians living inside Israel & the Occupied Territories, then not so much.
חשיפה – “you keep using that word, I don’t think it means what you think it means”
It does. Brush up your Shakespeare…and Hebrew.
No, It really doesn’t. You didn’t “scoop” anything here. And not only i know more Hebrew than you ever will, the quote is from the Princess Bride.
@ Ed Fortis: I didn’t write the Hebrew lede for my post. An Israeli did, moron. An Israeli for whom Hebrew is his native language. So when putting your Hebrew against his I’ll take his every day of the week. Too bad for you, chum.
As for the “scoop,” the Israeli media hadn’t yet named the victims nor offered any details about them. I did. That’s a scoop. The gag was broken shortly after my post was published. Probably because I broke it and it became useless to maintain it. Now why don’t you go run off & find your own source and publish a scoop, like a good boy.
As for “The Princess Bridge,” I don’t know what you’re talking about.
I warn you that I’ve lost patience. If your next comment is as inane as your last few, you won’t be long for this blog.
BTW, I’ll put my Hebrew against yours any day of the week.
[Comment deleted. Comments must be substantive, have an argument related directly to the post]
[Comment deleted: comments must be substantive & on-topic, directly related to the subject of the post.]
Maybe you should go with מתפרצת
חשיפה really should not be used for news that are ongoing but for something from the past that wasn’t revealed before
@ Ariel Sharon: Thanks, but I’ll continue using the terms I’ve used for the past 10 yrs. You can adjust your own understanding of the word in the context of my blog.
@ Shaul
No, Druze do not have Caucasian origin, maybe you’re mixing them up with the Circassian ….
They are indigenous to Lebanon, Syria and Israel/Palestine, who are followers of a off-branch of Shia-Islam, that’s all.
@ Richard
In one of the article on EI there’s a historical overview of the Druze relation with the State of Israel. In fact their military service was imposed in 1956 by the collboration of some sheikhs but already at that time there was huge opposition within the community.
Also, according to a study (I think by Haifa University), two-thirds of young Druze wouldn’t join the army if they had the choice.
In fact since 1956 there has been an average of 3-4 Druze in jail for refusing military service but they’ve made a tacit deal witk the Elders of the community, not to go public, Omar Saad the young musician, was one of the first Druze to explain his refusal in public when he wrote that letter to Netanyahu explaining why he wouldn’t join the army.
” off-branch of Shia-Islam, that’s all.”
I believe it goes back to Isma’ilism spec when their leader proclaimed himself divine and then fled from Egypt to Lebanon.
You linked to the NY Times piece with your words “carried out a daring assault”. I checked the link and this phrase doesn’t appear there. Was it edited out? The NYT refers to the attack as “brazen” rather than “daring” which I believe means something quite different.
Do you think this attack was daring? Was your qualifier ‘allegedly’ meant to apply to the word ‘daring’ rather than the attack. That would make sense. The attack is now fully corroborated as having happened. It is not ‘alleged’. So did you mean that it was “allegedly daring”? If so, is anyone else other than you alleging this?
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@ guilty: it’s not my responsibility to respond to Gotcha type questions. I especially detest them. The writing stands on its own and the answers to your questions are quite evident from the text itself . I’m not going to waste my time parsing & reparsing for your benefit.
Read the comment rules carefully if you decide to continue commenting here.