This will be the first of three postings featuring assorted reports of attempted or achieved attacks made by local Arab Muslims upon Jews - police, security guards and  unarmed civilians - within Israel in the first three months of this year, none of which were - I think - reported anywhere outside Israel.  In the final posting I will conclude with an article that appeared in Israel National News, asking a very pertinent question - might not these attacks - so many of them in the past few months especially - be something other than mere common-or-garden crimes of violence?  

It is necessary to bear in mind that these sorts of attacks, the stonings, the knifings, the bashings, and occasionally shootings and hit-and-runs, seem always to be Muslim attacking Jew - one does not normally see the reverse, a Jew whipping out a knife and stabbing a random Arab Muslim on the train, or a pack of Jewish teenagers hurling rocks at an Arab driver who takes a wrong turn into a Jewish neighbourhood.  

This little series, besides showing that it is more than the prospect of rockets hurled from Gaza with which the Jews of Israel must contend every day of their lives, may also prove illuminating to readers of this blog who hail from heavily-Islamised suburbs or neighbourhoods of Britain and Europe, India and Australia.  I would hazard the guess that there are Britons and Danes, Dutch and French and German citizens, and people from western Sydney, who may find something eerily familiar about these stories of Muslim attacks upon Jews within Israel.

And so to the first set of reports, from January, all of which as it happens reveal just why Israel has checkpoints.

WE begin with a laconic account of a hit-and-run on 7 January, as it appeared in the Jerusalem Post.

http://www.jpost.com/Headlines/Article.aspx?id=252573

'Palestinian driver runs over policeman; arrested'.

That is: Arab driver runs over Jewish policeman; arrested - CM

'A Palestinian (sic: Palestinian Arab - CM) driver ran over an Israeli policeman on Saturday at a checkpoint near Zeif Junction.

'Police had indicated to the driver that he should stop the car and pull over.

'After failing to do so, police shot the car's tires.  The driver was arrested.  Police are investigating the incident'.

The report doesn't say whether and how much the driver injured the policeman; I hardly think one can get 'run over', even at a low speed, without suffering some damage. 

Two days later,  here is the Israeli blog 'This Ongoing War',  drawing on the Hebrew-language press and certain other sources not readily available to English speakers, summarises for us the story of an Arab Muslim woman who attempted to stab an Israeli border policeman at a checkpoint.

http://thisongoingwar.blogspot.com/2012/01/9-jan-12-another-day-another-attempted.html

'Monday January 9 2012.  

'Another day, another attempted murder-by-knifing.

'A Palestinian Arab female (most likely an Arab Muslim female - CM) arrived at the Bitunya security checkpoint south of Ramallah, near the edge of the city of Jerusalem, this morning.

'This Hebrew report [linked - CM] says she came armed with a 30 cm knife that she pulled out of its concealed location and, blade unsheathed, threw herself at one of the Border Police. 

'One of the alert service personnel at the checkpoint then fired a warning shot into the air.

'Another leapt onto her, got her under his control, and took her away for interrogation.

'No-one was seriously injured, and the woman - evidently with murder on her mind - will be able to try this again in the future should the passion so move her.

'A Palestinian Arab news agency reports it briefly ("Israeli forces detain woman at Ramallah crossing') but it would be a mistake to think this is heading for the mainstream news because no-one was killed.

Then the blogger gives us some background: 'The security checkpoint at Bitunya is routinely reported on by the silly ideological extremists of Machsom Watch, a naive and troublesome collective whose members believe something is wrong with Israel protecting its population from similar Palestinian Arabs (that is, local Arab Muslims - CM) with murder on their minds.

'The IDF's Twitter report...expresses the danger this way: #Israel Border Police uncovered 30 cm knife on Palestinian woman, capable of impaling a human body # terror"...

And the blogger remarks "...what do you say to people [i.e. the likes of Machsom Watch, not to mention the likes of the hand-wringing Ecumenical Accompaniers of the World Council of Churches' Ecumenical Accompaniers for Peace in Palestine and Israel' , whose reports frequently wax eloquent upon the supposed suffering inflicted by those evil checkpoints - CM] who believe the decent, fair-minded thing to do with Palestinian Arab women and their 30 cm knives is to stand back and let them come through?"...

Now the 16 January: bomb-toting Palestinian Arab Muslims caught at a checkpoint; they were on their way to a court session in Israel where one must assume they intended to detonate their bombs.

http://www.jpost.com/Defense/Article.aspx?id=253894

"Palestinians with bombs caught en route to court'.

'Second time in as many weeks that veteran Border Policeman intercepted explosives at Salem border crossing.

'Border Police intercepted two Palestinians (sic: two local Arab Muslims - CM) carrying eleven pipe bombs who were likely on their way to carry out an attack at the Samaria military court, as one of the murderers of the Fogel family was being sentenced.

'The suspects, both in their 20s, were trying to cross the Salem checkpoint near Jenin, when their nervous conduct aroused the suspicions of a veteran Border Policeman.  "They were placed in a bomb-proof examination hut for a search, but did not cooperate", Border Police spokesman Supt Shai Hakimi told the Jerusalem Post.

'Security personnel became even more suspicious and declared a "situation bell", which is code for strip search of suspects thought to be carrying weapons. 

'The search revealed eleven pipe bombs, a homemade gun, and ammunition.

'The suspects were arrested, and the explosives were neutralized by Border Police bomb squad officers.

'Last week, Palestinian (that is, Arab Muslim - CM) suspects attempted to cross the same checkpoint with pipe bombs, and were apprehended by the same Border Policeman who raised the alarm on Monday."

That man at that checkpoint is saving lives. - CM

In talkbacks to the article, one Avi Benson remarked sardonically, "And the anti-Israel protesters claim we should remove the barriers, remove the roadblocks, and let the terrorists roam freely throughout the country". 

Now, back to the 'static', the steady background noise of Arab Muslim aggression against Jews.  This time it is another Israeli blogger, 'A Soldier's Mother', sharing what it's like to be the mother of two IDF-trained sons who are working as security guards.

In a posting entitled 'That Damn Roller Coaster', she writes:

http://israelisoldiersmother.blogspot.com/2012/01/that-damn-roller-coaster.html

"...Last night, Shmulik was on the job.  He and Elie are both working as security guards for a local company.  There are two in Maale Adumim - the one they work for is the smaller company.  The larger one won the bid for managing the city entrances and the schools, while Elie and Shmulik's company handles several places inside the city.

"In the last few weeks, three security guards have been attacked by Arabs (that is, by Arab Muslims - CM) in Maale Adumim.

"It took me too much time and not a little bit of panic to get through Shmulik's explanation to understand we were talking about guards on the outer perimeters.  Three times, Arabs have come up and as they approached, drawn a knife to stab the guards.

"The first time, the guard was stabbed in the neck, but only lightly wounded.  The Arab ran off but apparently was later caught.

"The second time, another Arab was dumb enough to attack a guard who is a champion in martial arts.

"In seconds, as Shmulik explained, the guard had the Arab down in the dirt, arrested - no casualties.

'Last night, Shmulik was on the job when an Arab approached the city perimeter again.  This time he succeeded in stabbing the guard in the stomach - moderately wounding him.  When the head of the security company got the call, he ordered Shmulik out into the streets, in front of the mall...".

"Arabs". Arab Muslims.  Attacking Jewish security guards at the entrance to a Jewish community.  

Next, on 22 January, for something that made it into Jerusalem Post: an Arab Muslim waving an axe.

http://www.jpost.com/Defense/Article.aspx?id=254617

'Ax-wielding Palestinian shot in leg at Kalandiya'.  

'After failing to heed order to stop, ignoring warning shot, civilian guard shoots man in leg, lightly wounding him.

'An ax-wielding Palestinian man (that is, an ax-wielding Palestinian Arab Muslim man - CM) was shot in the leg and lightly injured after attempting to attack Israeli security personnel at the Kalandiya checkpoint in the West Bank on Sunday.

'Police said the suspect walked up to security personnel from a civilian company, contracted by the Defence Ministry to man the checkpoint, and produced the ax from a bag.  He proceeded to run up to the guards armed with the weapon.

'A guard fired two warning shots in the air and called on the suspect to stop the advance.  The suspect failed to heed the warning and the security guard directed a third bullet at the man's leg, lightly wounding him.

'The man was treated by Border Police medics on the scene...before being taken to Hadassah University Medical Centre in stable condition.

'Border Police who arrived on the scene recovered a long commando knife in the man's bag...The suspect will be questioned after being released from hospital."

This series of incidents - all from just one month, January 2012, and it is possible there may have been others that I overlooked - show us just exactly why the Israelis cannot, ever, drop their guard.

[Part two - featuring a whole string of rock-throwing attacks on Jews - to follow]. - CM