This is Terrorism
Thursday, March 06, 2008
Today, my boss walks by the TV at work and stops. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, what's this? A bomb in Times Square?"
"Yeah, didn't you hear about that?" I answered. "A guy threw a bomb in the army recruitment office at 3 a.m. Nobody was hurt or killed."
"Oh, so this isn't any crazy Shiite thing. This is just one guy angry at another."
"Yeah. The crazy muslims usually feel the need to strap bombs to their chests and walk into crowded pizza parlors before blowing themselves up."
An hour later, I look up at the now-muted TV and see that a crazy muslim entered a Jerusalem yeshiva and opened fire on a number of students eating dinner after evening prayers. Seven dead, 35 wounded and counting. "That," I said, "is terrorism."
The Israel National News article Arab Terrorist Attacks Jerusalem's Merkaz HaRav Yeshiva: 8 Dead has powerful photographs from the scene. You need to see them. You need to bear witness.
Mercaz Harav hit by worst terror attack since April 2006 [JPost]: "The 8:45 p.m. shooting at Mercaz Harav Yeshiva in the Kiryat Moshe neighborhood broke a two-year lull in terror in the capital and sent students scurrying for cover from a hail of gunfire - a reported 500-600 bullets - that lasted for several minutes.
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At Shaare Zedek Medical Center, which is only a few minutes' drive from the yeshiva, the most seriously wounded student - who had bullet holes in many parts of his body - was rushed to the operating room. Spokeswoman Shoham Ruvio said he looked about 18 years old. Two other wounded students were in moderate condition, while four were lightly wounded. The age of the wounded was estimated at 16 to 28.
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The Mercaz Harav Yeshiva is considered the leading national-religious yeshiva in Israel, with hundreds of elite students. Among its thousands of graduates are leading public figures including senior rabbis and IDF officers. It was founded in 1924 by mandatory Palestine's first chief rabbi, Rabbi Avraham Yitzhak Hacohen Kook. Its longtime head, Rabbi Avraham Shapira, died in September 2007.
Rabbi David Stav, one of many prominent graduates of the yeshiva, which has produced the bulk of the spiritual leadership of religious Zionism in Israel, said that the attack had been directed at the heart of religious Zionism.
'Mercaz Harav is the flagship of the entire religious Zionist movement,' said Stav. 'The terrorist targeted a place that symbolizes love for the land of Israel, love for the people of Israel and love for the Torah. No Jewish soul can remain indifferent to the horrible thought that a despicable terrorist attacked a group of young men who were busy studying the holy Torah.'"
Commentary from the JPost An assault on the heart of Zionism by Calev Ben-David: "In striking the flagship institution of the religious Zionist movement, a Jerusalem landmark whose history is linked with the founding and fulfillment of the Jewish national home in the Land of Israel, the gunman aimed his weapon at the heart of the Zionist enterprise.
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The grief and fury in particular of the religious-Zionist sector will be beyond measure at this violent desecration of the cradle of their movement. The current efforts by the government to reach an accommodation with the settler leadership on the removal of outposts will have been in vain for the time being, as any spirit of compromise will be buried with the victims of this atrocity." Read the whole thing. He believes negotiations of any kind will be halted, and Olmert will be one step from being ousted. Let's hope so. Let's hope that part of the Israeli response is the collapse of the coalition and an immediate demand for new elections.
Israel Matzav has a series of up-to-the-minute posts with links to Israeli TV coverage of the attack. Yitzack Dadon, a 40-year old yeshiva student and IDF Reservist, was able to get to the roof of the Yeshiva and shoot the attacker twice. He told the Israeli media: "Shimon Peres gave him the [Kalachnikov] that he used and now Olmert wants to give them more. We are walking around like blind people feeling their way in the dark." Apparently, the comment was edited out of later broadcasts.
Info on How to Help from Treppenwitz: At Least 8 Dead in Jerusalem Terror Attack with links to American Friends of Magen David Adom, Friends of Mercaz HaRav, and ZAKA USA
Amazing commentary from Israeli bloggers who blog in English:
What it feels like to be Israeli @ Aliyah: It's as easy as opening a bank account...
On a Night Like This @ Blogs of Zion
They just announced on the news that the body count is up to 10 murdered, and Jerusalem is (of course) on high alert. What we need right now is another Ariel Sharon, pre-Gush Katif eviction: the Ariel Sharon that marched onto the Temple Mount and got in the terrorists' face and didn't budge.
It is seriously absurd that we can't even pray in peace in our own capitol. If we can't life in peace in Jerusalem, how can we expect to live safely anywhere else in the State, let alone the world?
Some more places to send your money, your prayers, and even yourself:
Friends of the Israeli Defense Forces
Mahal2000 Assisting non-Israelis who want to volunteer for the IDF
PizzaIDF Feed your soldiers!
Israel Service Organization [ISO] Entertain your soldiers!
IDF Surplus Store Wear your support!
Tonight, we mourn. Tomorrow night, we Shabbat. The next night-- [hopefully] we fight back.
Labels: IDF, Israel, Jerusalem, Merkaz HaRav, shooting, yeshiva
posted by Shoshana @ 7:01 PM
