A terrorist attack against Palestinians has led to the death of a 18 month old baby and the injury of 3 others in the West Bank town of Duma, near Nablus. The child murdered in the terrorist attack was named Ali Saad Dawabsha. Current reports state that his four-year-old brother of the Dawabsha family is being treated; the boy is in critical condition.
18 Month Old Palestinian Baby Ali Saad Dawabsha – Murdered in West Bank Terrorist Attack
The child’s parents and four-year-old brother were flown by helicopter to an Israeli hospital where they were said to be in serious condition and the four-year old child is in critical condition. In addition to the attack on the Dawabsha family house, a second house in the Duma village was also set ablaze, but no one was at home. One Duma resident said that he saw two masked terrorists outside the houses.
Graffiti on Remains of House after Terrorist Attack
This was another of the West Bank “Price Tag” terrorist attacks. The New York Times’ Isabel Kershner writes that the so named “Price Tag” terrorist attacks are from extremists among West Bank Israeli settlers who “exact a price from local Palestinians or from the Israeli security forces for any action taken against their settlement enterprise.” CNN reports that: “A preliminary investigation shows suspects entered the village at night, set homes ablaze and sprayed graffiti on them.”
Aftermath of Duma”Price Tag” Terrorist Attack on Palestinians by Israeli Settler Extremist Terrorists – Described by Israel Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon as “Jewish Terrorist” Attacks
Israel’s Prime Minster Benjamin Netanyahu stated “This is a terrorist attack. Israel takes firm action against terrorism, no matter who its perpetrators are.” He also stated “I have ordered the security forces to use all means at their disposal to apprehend the murderers and bring them to justice.” He also described this as a “terror attack in every way.”
Remains of Burned Palestinian Home by Terrorist Attack (Source: Times of Israel/AFP)
After visiting the 4 year old brother of Ali Saad Dawabsha who is in critical condition, PM Netanyahu stated: “It is difficult to stand next to the bed of such a boy when you know his young brother was murdered and you ask, ‘Why was this terrible deed done?’ Terrorism is terrorism is terrorism. We will catch the murderers and bring them to justice.”
Mourning for the Murder of 18 month old child Ali Dawabsha, during funeral (AP)
Israel Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon referred to the terrorist attack and the death of baby Ali Dawabsha as “a most severe terrorist act that we cannot tolerate, and we condemn in every way.” Israel Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon stated that he would not tolerate “Jewish terrorist” attacks, and stated that “We will not allow Jewish terrorists to harm the lives of Palestinians across Judea and Samaria. We will fight them in every way, with every tool at our disposal.” He sent out his condolences to the Dawabsha family and requested restraint from the public “to allowing security forces to carry out their mission of capturing the murderers.”
Knesset Member Yair Lapid stated that : “Terrorists entered at night and set fire to a baby. As always, the IDF is going to war against the enemy. Only this time the enemy is from here, from inside, from within us. ” “They are traitors to all that is sacred to us, traitors to the very idea on which the State of Israel was founded, traitors to Judaism.”
The U.S. Department of State condemned this “vicious terrorist attack.”
Reuters reports that this is one of the worst acts of violence by Israeli assailants since a 16 year old Palestinian boy, Mohammed Abu Khdeir, was burned to death in Jerusalem a year ago. That followed the kidnapping and killing of three Israeli teenagers by Palestinian militants in the West Bank.
Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) has posted a listing of over 130 “Price Tag” terrorist attacks. The Israeli government needs to recognize such “Price Tag” terrorism as the hate crime terrorist acts that they are, and not continue to dither whether such attacks are “terrorism” or not . This monstrous terrorist attack on this Palestinian family in Duma needs to be the wake up call for Israel to change its policies. It is past time for the Israel government to fully recognize such West Bank terrorist attacks as “terrorism” so that the appropriate resources and legal mechanisms can be put in place to act on such terrorism. There have been hundreds of attacks on homes, mosques, churches, and individuals by such terrorists, who MUST BE STOPPED. Last month in June 2015, R.E.A.L. also reported on such a “Price Tag” terrorist attack on a Christian Church in Galilee; once again people were arrested but then let go by the Israeli authorities. It is past time for the Israeli government to be firm in the arrest, conviction, and punishment of such terrorists.