Toronto Arab paper reposts an article calling Palestinian stabbers “heroes”

Jonathan D. Halevi

Knife yielding Palestinian stabbing Israelis. Photo: Israeli Police

The Mississauga-based newspaper “Meshwar” has published (Issue 145, December 11, 2015, p. 33) an unsigned article entitled “Who are the Knife Heroes?”

The same article penned by Saeed Amury (سعيد عموري) originally appeared on the Lebanese Assafir daily newspaper in November.

The article tells the story of three young Palestinians who carried out knife attacks aimed at Israelis during the al-Quds Intifada ,also dubbed the Knife Intifada, trying to decipher what drove them to take a kitchen knife and go to stab Israelis in missions that have a slim chance of returning alive.

According to the Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, during the last 3 months (September 13 – December 9) of Palestinian intifada (violent flare-up), 22 Israelis have been killed and 215 wounded (21 of them seriously). As of November 30, the Palestinian new wave of terrorism included 90 stabbings, 33 shootings and 14 car rammings in addition to firing rockets (from Gaza), detonating explosive charges, and many hundreds incidents of stone throwing and firebombings.

The article reads: “One of the “Knive Heroes” is 22 year old Baha Aliyan (بهاء عليان), who has become a phenomenon, an icon and moreover a role model for an entire generation. The youths called him ‘the magnificent’ (البهاء) for being educated, wise and a leader in volunteering, social and scouts activities while at the same time he carried out a heroic operation killing 6 Israeli soldiers and settlers.”

On October 13, 2015, Baha Aliyan, an operative of Fatah movement, joined by his friend, Bilal Abu Ghanem, an operative of Hamas, boarded on an Israeli bus in Jerusalem armed with a knife (Baha Aliyan) and a handgun (Bilal Abu Ghanem) and started killing the passengers. 3 were murdered and 16 injured. Baha Aliyan was killed by an Israeli Police force and Bilal Abu Ghanem was injured and arrested.

In his interrogation by the Israeli Police, Bilal Abu Ghanem provided details about the preparations to the attack and the attack itself:

“[Baha] told me that he has 20,000 NIS [$7,100] and that he wants to purchase a handgun. I asked him: ‘Why do you you want to buy a handgun?’ and he said that he wants to carry out an attack against the Jews…

“That morning, Baha came over and saw that I have a knife at the store. He said that it may be useful for the attack and took it with him. We went to the store where Baha was employed and the first thing he showed me when I arrived at the place was the black-coloured handgun. I held the handgun and starred at it. He taught me how to unlock the safety catch. I put it on my waist and we went out [to Jerualem]. Baha took the knife and put it under his pants…

“Baha looked at me and nodded his head signalling to start [the attack]. I pulled out the handgun, cocked it, went towards the people who were sitting at the back of the bus and started shooting at them. I saw an elder man, an elder woman and more people – I shot at them and saw them injured.

“Then I ran out of bullets. I waited for a Policeman to come an kill me. Baha came to me and took the handgun. The Police came and Baha started threatening with the handgun the Policemen who were standing outside of the bus. The Policemen started shooting at us. I was hit and fell on the floor. I don’t know what happened next.”

Read more: Toronto Arab paper…