Where’s the Coverage? Rising Number of Terrorist Attacks in Jerusalem Motivated by “Hatred of Jews”

As Secretary of State John Kerry arrives in Israel to heat up negotiations with the Palestinian Arabs, his visit is being heavily covered by the media, understandably. Some reports describe Kerry bringing a proposed plan to address Israel’s security concerns. But none in the mainstream press have covered the very real and immediate security concerns of Israelis in Jerusalem today.

The Times of Israel reported:

According to figures released by the Shin Bet, November marked a 65% rise in terrorist attacks in Jerusalem compared to the previous month, Channel 10 reported. The security services documented 32 attacks in October, and 53 in November, of which 47 involved Molotov cocktails.

Even when attacks don’t involve explosives, they can cause casualties. Last week, two-year-old Avigail Ben-Tzion suffered a head injury when the car she was riding in was pelted with stones. Her family was returning from a day at the zoo. She has now been released from the hospital. This incident was covered by the Jewish and Israeli press, but the mainstream media have been mum.

Arabs have been attacked also, when they are mistaken for Jews. Ynet News reported a Muslim family was victimized by three Arab youths, as described by the father, Rashuan Salman:

“They tried to pull us out of the car and hit us, it seemed they were intent on lynching us. They tried opening the doors and my wife begged them to leave us alone. She spoke to them in Arabic and only then did they understand that we ourselves are Arabs, and left us alone. I hit the gas and drove away as fast as possible.”

According to him, the youth clearly mistook them for Jews: “Me and my wife look Jewish, even the police officer who arrived said ‘at first sight I was sure you were Jews.’ He told us that these types of things happen all the time.”

Jews sympathetic to the Arab cause are not immune from violent attack either. Daniel Seideman, an attorney who founded several pro-Palestinian NGOs was recently victimized. He wrote on his Facebook on Saturday, November 23:

This afternoon, I paid a working visit to a friend in the Palestinian neighborhood of Sur Bahir, barely a kilometer from my home. When we took leave of one another, I headed home in my car. I had the misfortune of ending up in a traffic jam in the center of the village, just as school was getting out. I didn’t see it coming, but should have: I was a sitting duck. The rock was probably thrown at point blank range; it smashed the side window with enough force to leave a deep gash in the back of my head. I was fortunate: I did not lose consciousness, nor my sense of orientation. Thankfully, the traffic jam loosened up a bit. Within a minute or so I was out of danger and on my way to get treatment. This ended with a few stitches and no serious damage (confirmed by a CT).

Seideman blames “the occupation” for the violence, writing:

The rock that hit me yesterday was not directed at me, personally. Most likely, it was hurled because I am an Israeli – the occupier. It’s also possible that it’s because I am a Jew, irrespective of the occupation. We will never know.

Actually, we do know. Police have arrested five teens in the stoning of Avigail Ben-Tzion and according to police:

“We have five suspects in our hands,” said Superintendent Yigal Elmaliach, head of investigations in the Special Operations Squad in the Jerusalem District Police’s Central Unit. “Four of them were interrogated and admitted to the act and also implicated the others in the event. Some of them are still being questioned. We are talking about a planned attack. They met beforehand and planned to arrive in the evening in order to throw rocks. In the interrogation they said that the reason was hatred of Jews.”

CAMERA has long reported on the seriousness of these attacks, another toddler who was seriously injured in the spring, Adele Bitton, and other victims of stoning attacks. But the popular press ignores this issue, or worse. In August, The New York Times ran a front-page, above-the-fold story romanticizing such attacks.

Now these attacks are on the rise and they are demonstrably motivated by ethnic hatred. It’s time for the media to open their eyes… Where’s the coverage?

The car in which Avigail Ben-Tzion, 2, was injured by a stone near her home in Jerusalem, November 28, 2013. (Photo credit: Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

(Related: Believe it or not, Seideman’s attack was falsely characterized in the Toronto’s The Globe and Mail as perpetrated by “ultra-nationalist members of the settler movement.” Read CAMERA’s coverage here.)