Photo Credit: Social media
Graffiti at Duma home that was torched in Samara.

Some Israelis may have forgotten no one has yet actually tracked down the murderers of Ali Bawabsheh, in their desperate rush to make peace with our Palestinian Authority neighbors.

Our endless search for Heavenly dispensation for our sins sometimes leads Jews to seek forgiveness from the closest source of reprobation. Here in Israel it invariably is sought from those who also attack us most often: the Arabs.


This silly self-flagellation with which the Israeli Left bemoans the “hate-filled” Israeli society in Judea and Samaria – which it is not – has done nothing to heal any divisions that do exist.

Divisions do not a murderer make.

In the case of the arson that destroyed the Bawabsheh home, killed little Ali and horrifically injured his young brother and both of his parents, there are some other issues too.

So far, the entire country – in fact, the whole world – has assumed the attackers are Jews.

It is Israelis who are at fault, because Israeli media has disseminated that impression without first confirming it as fact.

That alone is unprofessional, stupid and self-defeating as well as dangerous.

The assumption is based on an “eyewitness account” by Palestinian Authority Arabs who may or may not have had their own agenda and on Hebrew-language graffiti spray-painted on the walls of the home.

But both are being re-examined.

It turns out that two homes were torched, for instance – not one as previously reported. The Palestinian Authority reports the perpetrators allegedly torched the first house but upon finding it empty, then moved along to the second, where they seized victims. They also stayed long enough to ensure their victims would be injured in the conflagration they caused with the Molotov cocktail they threw.

Yonadav Tapuchi, a young Jew who lives in Samaria, joined a group condolence visit to Duma on Sunday with the Tag Meir organization. He subsequently described the visit in a post on his Facebook page, saying it was “difficult.”

The Bawabsheh home was not easily accessible, Tapuchi noted, and to make sure a fire got started there was not so simple. There were protective decorative iron screens on the windows in addition to a wall around the home. From a geographic standpoint, he also said it seemed hard to understand how the attack could have been carried out by Jews.

Moreover, due to the way the house is situated, the arsonists had to go around the house, enter the yard, and maneuver the firebombs through the lattice.

“According to the Duma version, the attackers entered the house, stood over the parents and did not let them leave until the flames engulfed the house. Only then did the arsonists flee the village,” Tapuchi wrote.

The graffiti is also interesting, and is suspect for a number of reasons relating to the content and the style of calligraphy. Neither matches the typical “price tag” graffiti profile.

Both of the homes that were torched are located in the center of a large and sprawling village. Duma itself is located near Shechem which is also a hotbed of terrorist activity.

It is hard to believe that no one would have seen a group of four Jews sneaking around an Arab village, let alone sneaking through that village to torch two homes.

Also, there are often Canaanite dogs to be found in such places, because the Arabs use them as guard dogs for their flocks. It stretches the imagination to think such dogs would not have made a sound with strangers in the village. Even donkeys, sheep or goats in the area would likely have raised a ruckus, and that alone would have brought others to see who was there.


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  1. Thank You! That's what I've been saying all over the place, in every article that's been written. Why are we "shlugging al chet" quite yet? Let's first find a legitimate suspect…it is RIDICULOUS that Kahane's grandson was apprehended! Then let's have a trial to see if this suspect is even guilty…Innocent until proven guilty! SHHEEESSHH!!!

  2. FINALLY…a breath of fresh air. Someone who wrote an article, stating what I’ve been saying this awful thing occurred. First things first…let’s find a credible suspect…NOT Kahane’s grandson! HOW ABSURD! The world is against us no matter what we do and no matter how moral and how good we are! You can never appease them, so don’t use our brethren in Samaria and Judea as scapegoats. They live in danger every day as it is…we don’t need to add to their tenuous situations by taking on guilt. I am so certain that we are going to find out that an arab did this!!!

  3. There isn't going to be a trial or at least a speedy one.. Its part of the response to this that I am finding worrisome. Defense Minister Yaalon has decided that anyone brought in for this crime will be held under "Administrative Detention". That means an arrest that is open-ended, does not have charges, does not allow a detainee access to lawyers or a trial and only requires a vague requirement for the police to "investigate" and file a report to renew the detention every 3 months–as long as they want to keep doing it. It seems that the two late crimes–the parade stabbing and this arson murder are being exploited by the government to chip away at civil rights and shut up people they don't agree with. Could be this Kahane grandson is up to something, could even be that he knows something but the bottom line was that he was in Safed at the time and basically the police are upset about his organizing a network of Hilltop Youth but can't arrest him for that under normal legal procedures and if they did his lawyers and/or the judge would have him released. Whether you like what he's doing or not you have to worry about what this change is going to do as they apply it to anyone with politics they don't like and can declare to be in an "illegal association" or a "terrorist association" as they want to do with LEHAVA and strip of their civil rights. They arrested the Grossmans just for knowing Schlissel (stabber at parade) and having been known to be against the parade. Normally unpopular opinions are not arrestable offenses. Now you can be arrested and be denied civil rights indefinitely in such a way that a normal citizen will be unable to act to clear themselves or hang in under new rules allowing "moderate pressure" that was previously only permitted to prevent imminent terror attacks. And nobody seems to be worried.

  4. I find the automatic "circle the wagons" position of your Hareidi staff to become defensive when there is a criticism aimed at the potential abuses of media power that might be true about this publication. Administrative detention has been adopted from the British in that country's long fight with the IRA. Had Israel maintained that position, perhaps Muhammed Atta might not have been able to lead the 9/11 attack. I also wonder how you judge what constitute "lies about Israel." Facts are facts, but truth is a matter of interpretation.

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