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| The Munsters: Parents and siblings of the stabber smile for the camera |
That the entire Muslim population of the West Bank hasn't yet been deported to the An Nafud is a testament to the tolerance of the Israeli government—a tolerance bordering on the saintly. The following is from The Jerusalem Post. A description of the original attack follows:
Park to be dedicated in name of terrorist on site of his destroyed home
The Municipality of Surda/Abu Kash in the Ramallah area decided on Sunday to name a public park after Muhannad Halabi, who killed two Israelis in Jerusalem’s Old City last October.
The new park will be built on the site where Halabi’s house existed before it was demolished by the IDF earlier this month.
Halabi, a 19-year-old Palestinian law student at Al-Quds University from a village near Ramallah, went on a shooting and stabbing spree in October killing two before he was shot dead by police.
The attack took place at the Lion's Gate on Succot as the victims were en route to the Western Wall. Halabi stabbed a couple and their toddler son and then grabbed a pistol from one of his victims and began firing wildly into the crowd until a border police officer shot him from 50 meters away, killing him.
The victims of the attack, one of the first in the current wave of terror attacks that have plagued Israel over the last four months, were Rabbi Nehemia Lavie, 41, an Old City resident who worked at the Ateret Cohanim Yeshiva, near the place he was killed, and Aharon Benita from Beitar Illit, the father of the toddler also wounded in the attack.
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| Nehemia Lavi and Aharon Banita |
Meanwhile, Palestinian activists announced on Sunday that they have collected a total of 650,000 Shekels in donations to build a new house for the Halabi family following the launch of a crowdfunding campaign.
The campaign, used by Palestinians to protest against Israel's house demolition policy, may become a tremendous success since many Palestinians view Halabi as the “hero who ignited the Third Intifada's fire.”
Many Palestinians were outraged that the Palestinian Authority did not act to stop the house's demolition by closing the roads leading to the structure and preventing the approach of the Israeli forces.
Following the destruction of their house on January 9, the entire Halabi family gathered around the ruins and took a selfie picture in which all family members are seen smiling and flashing the victory sign.
The family members’ smiles just after losing their house are consistent with the behavior of many young Palestinians during the current terror wave which has seen Palestinian terrorists tend to smile to the camera, even when they are already arrested or physically injured by Israeli security forces. The phenomenon, known in Arabic as Ibtisamat (smiles) has even become a popular hashtag on Palestinian social media.From The Times of Israel (October 4, 2015):
‘I yelled for help and they spat at me,’ says victim of Jerusalem attack
Adele Banita gives harrowing account of terror assault in which her husband Aharon and Old City resident Nehemia Lavi were murdered, and she was badly wounded
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| Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visits Adele Banita and her son Matan |
Adele Banita, one of the victims of Saturday night’s terror attack in Jerusalem Old City, gave a harrowing account of how the deadly stabbing assault unfolded and how her cries for help were ignored as her husband lay fatally wounded on the floor and she herself was stabbed.
“I yelled ‘please help me!’ and they just spat at me,” said Banita of the surrounding Palestinian shopkeepers whom she said looked on and did nothing as Palestinian terrorist Muhannad Halabi attacked her and her family in an alleyway near Lion’s Gate in the Old City.
The Banitas’ two-year-old son was also lightly injured in the attack. Their infant girl was unharmed.
Banita was taken in serious condition to Hadassah Hospital Ein Kerem in Jerusalem where she underwent emergency surgery overnight Saturday-Sunday. She regained consciousness on Sunday. Her husband died of his wounds at Shaare Zedek Hospital shortly after the attack.
“When we got back from the Western Wall, we felt that something wasn’t right,” she told Ynet from her hospital bed Sunday.
“We started walking fast but the terrorist emerged from one of the stores and lunged at us and started stabbing my husband. My husband is a strong man and started fighting him, he punched him in the face. At that point, the terrorist started stabbing me. Then he went back to my husband and stabbed him again and again. I also fought him, I tried to take away the knife, but I failed,” she recounted.
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| Law student and murderer |
Banita said Palestinian youths who saw the attack laughed and cursed at her as she yelled for help.
She said that one of them slapped her and another laughed in her face and told her to “drop dead” when she told him she’d give him a million shekels if he helped her get away with her two babies.
“They saw that we were with two baby carriages,” she said.
Banita — stabbed, bleeding and losing consciousness fast — said she used her last ounces of energy to run toward security forces for help.
“I said ‘I’m hurt, my husband is stabbed and my two babies are there alone,’ then I lost consciousness,” she said.
Nehemia Lavi, 41, an Old City resident who heard the screams, came to help and he too was stabbed and killed by the terrorist.
Lavi and Banita were laid to rest Sunday at the Givat Shaul cemetery in Jerusalem.
In video footage that emerged from the attack, Halabi, a 19-year-old resident of al-Bireh near Ramallah, can briefly be seen lunging at one of his victims — it’s not clear who — and wrestling him to the ground. Adele’s screams can be heard as well as a baby’s wails. The video ends with the sound of gunshots. Throughout, shopkeepers and people can be seen either looking on or running away.
At the end of the video, one man nonchalantly takes a sip of his soft drink as he looks on.
The terrorist was shot dead by security forces at the scene.
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