On Tuesday morning, just hours before the new Israeli government led again by former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was to be sworn in, a Palestinian terrorist killed three Israelis and wounded at least three more in a stabbing and car-ramming attack near the city of Ariel in Samaria.
The terrorist, who reportedly had been given a work pass permitting him to enter Ariel, murdered three men, including Tamir Avihai, a father of six children.
Just heartbreaking 💔
This is Tamir Avihai (50), a father of six, murdered in today’s stabbing attack by a Palestinian terrorist in Ariel. That’s 6 children without their father now. His only ‘crime’? He was Jewish!
May Tamir’s memory always be blessed! pic.twitter.com/oWCwHnxzEs
— Arsen Ostrovsky (@Ostrov_A) November 15, 2022
Another Israeli who was injured in today's terror attack in Ariel has succumbed to their wounds.
In total, 3 Israelis were murdered in this hateful act.Our hearts go out to the loved ones of the victims in the wake of this tragedy.
May their memories forever be a blessing.🕯️ pic.twitter.com/n58MopxRy4— StandWithUsUK (@StandWithUsUK) November 15, 2022
Meanwhile, Palestinians in Gaza were reportedly celebrating and handing out sweets.
Savages. These guys are less than human. 3 Israelis were just slaughtered by a Palestinian terrorist in Ariel, and these animals in Gaza are handing out candy to celebrate! pic.twitter.com/Y1c9yCBSW7
— Arsen Ostrovsky (@Ostrov_A) November 15, 2022
Bezalel Smotrich, the leader of the Religious Zionism party that gained 14 seats in the Knesset, making it the third largest party after Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud (32) and Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid (24) declared that Israel must “move from the defensive to the offensive.”
“We have to put an end to all of this. And in order to achieve that, we must move from the defensive to the offensive, we must pursue terrorists and all those who dispatch them, and act decisively and with energy against terrorism,” he said at a meeting of the party on Tuesday.
Smotrich called the attack “a painful reminder of the most important and pressing issue in front of us — we must restore security to all Israeli citizens, and restore the deterrence that has been eroded.”
In September, Smotrich said, “I want to say here in a way that is not ambiguous: the most dangerous security threat today to the State of Israel and its citizens is the threat from home, posed by the nationalist elements among the Arabs of Israel. The hundreds of thousands of illegal weapons that will be directed at the moment of truth against the citizens of Israel constitute a potential for great damage and are much more complex to deal with than the Iranian threat.”
After the terrorist murdered the Israelis, he was found by Israel Defense Forces near Peduel, where he was shot and killed. The IDF reported that they are looking for a second suspected terrorist.
Israel has suffered from terrorist attacks from Palestinians for decades. For example, according to the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism, during the Second Intifada, 887 of the 1,137 Israelis murdered in attacks from September 2000 – 2005 were civilians. Just between May 2001 and May 2002 there were these massacres: five Israelis murdered by a suicide bomber at the HaSharon Mall in May 2001; 21 Israelis murdered by a suicide bomber at the Dolphinarium Discotheque in June 2001; 15 Israelis murdered by a suicide bomber at Sbarro’s Pizza in August 2001, including six children and a 31-year-old woman who was the only child of her parents and was five months pregnant; 11 Israelis murdered in a bus bombing on Ben Yehuda Street in Jerusalem on December 1, 2001; 12 more Israelis murdered the very next day in a Haifa suicide bombing; 11 more Israelis murdered in a bus attack 10 days later in Immanuel; six Israelis murdered in an attack at a bas-mitzvah in January 2002; 11 more Jews killed in an attack on a yeshiva in March 2002, including a five-month-old child; 11 Jews murdered in a bombing at café Moment in March 2002; 30 Israelis killed as they celebrated Passover in Netanya on March 27, 2002; 16 Israelis murdered in a suicide bombing four days later at the Matzah restaurant, and 16 Israelis murdered in Rishon LeZion in May 2002.