PHILADELPHIA — It happened in Berlin, of all places. On behalf of those poor Palestinians, they chanted “Death to the Jews,” “Death to Israel” and “Tel Aviv, the answer will come.”
The day before, an Italian tourist was murdered on Tel Aviv’s boardwalk and a woman and two of her daughters were gunned down at the eastern edge of Israel near the Jordan River.
All in the name of the Palestinians, we must assume. It has nothing to do with the Jews, their religion or sovereign Israel. They are all about the so-called occupation that oppresses the Palestinians.
Then why were their champions in Berlin crying “Death to the Jews?” Why the attack in Tel Aviv, which also left seven British and Italian tourists injured? Why did they pick the second day of Passover, April 7, to kill tourists and civilians?
They call it resistance and justice. It is duplicity. They are lying. Many Arabs still want to destroy Israel.
This is not to be dismissive of Palestinian suffering, and certainly there are Arabs who are not against Israel. Many are brainwashed and others are terrorized to avoid saying anything positive about Israel. There is likewise room for fair criticism of Israel.
The deception that accompanies these three incidents typifies how Palestinians have operated for a long time. They are fooling few people when they insist that terrorism is driven by Israeli policies.
Most telling is their chant “Death to the Jews” as hundreds gathered in two Berlin neighborhoods. That means any of us no matter where we live or how we feel about Israel. They are doing this in Berlin, where Hitler presided over the annihilation of 6 million of our people. And they picked the Jewish Sabbath and the third day of Passover.
No antisemitism here.
They also urged Israel’s demise, referenced Tel Aviv and conducted the demonstration on the third day of Passover. Tel Aviv is located on Israel’s west shoreline along the Mediterranean Sea where Israel is sovereign. Possibly they are denying Jerusalem’s status as the capital of Israel.
So if Palestinian independence is such an urgent issue, why did an Arab who lives near Tel Aviv pick that city to strike a blow for the Palestinians? He killed an Italian attorney and injured seven others when he drove his vehicle onto the boardwalk’s bike path to strike pedestrians before it overturned onto a lawn, CNN reports.
Israeli police said the driver, a 45-year-old resident of Kfar Kasem, was killed. The victim was identified as Alessandro Parini.
Tel Aviv has never been on the table in negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, not even for potential division as was the case for Jerusalem. The victims, as British and Italian tourists, were not even citizens of Israel.
Parini’s death followed the fatal shootings of Leah Dee, 48, and her two daughters, Maia and Rina, earlier in the day, the second day of Passover. The daughters, 15 and 20, died when terrorists shot them in their car, according to NBC. Their mother died of her wounds on the following Monday, April 10.
Whether they were murdered in Tel Aviv or near the Jordan River, the deaths of the Italian attorney and the mother and her daughters are war crimes, a violation of the Geneva Convention.
Their killers view themselves as soldiers in a war of resistance against the so-called “Little Satan.” Their warped hostility for Israel is outrageous in itself, but targeting civilians is unthinkable. That is what they did. Leah, Maia and Rina Dee were Israeli citizens and Parini was a tourist. Terrorists had no firm reason to believe that they were soldiers.
The International Committee of the Red Cross reports that the Geneva Conventions recognized the status of civilians with adoption of the Fourth Geneva Convention in 1949 as a direct result of abuse of civilians during World War II.
“The civilians convention recognized the changing nature of warfare and established legal protection for any person not belonging to armed forces or armed groups,” states the ICRC. “IHL (International Humanitarian Law) provides that civilians under the power of enemy forces must be treated humanely in all circumstances, without any adverse distinction. They must be protected against all forms of violence and degrading treatment, including murder and torture.”
In a provision that applies to the Dee family, the ICRC notes, “Certain groups are singled out for special mention. Women and children, the aged and sick are highly vulnerable during armed conflict.”
The murderers have families. They receive cash compensation for life, for every murdered Jew, money that comes from billions of dollars in aid to the Palestinians from taxpayers in US and Europe (UN). This is outrageous.