A pattern exists in which Palestinians attack and even murder the foreign groupies and apologists who join them in their dream of eliminating Israel, or at least of building an independent Palestinian state.
In addition to the specific examples that follow, verbal and physical abuse of women, including rape, has emerged as an "ongoing and widespread" problem whenever Israeli and foreign females volunteer in the West Bank, as revealed in mid-2010 series of articles in Ha'aretz, News1.co.il, and Zionism-Israel.com.
Comment: These murders neatly fit into the culture of death that characterizes Palestinian society; in addition to its suicide factory, its celebration of terrorists, and its emphasis on "martyrdom," it also devours its admirers.
For a complementary weblog entry, dealing with the same topic but concerning non-Palestinians in the region, see my "Middle East Extremists Attack Their Supporters." (April 15, 2011)
- Ziva Goldovsky, an 18-year-old Israeli "peace activist" was strangled and her body set on fire in August 1988 by a friend of her Palestinian boyfriend.
- Ian Sean Feinberg, 30, a South African who made aliyah and provided legal help to the Palestinians, was murdered in 1993 when attending a business meeting in Gaza; terrorists broke in, announced that they had "come to kill the Jew," and murdered him with gunshots and an axe.
- Angelo Frammartino, an Italian, was killed by stabbing in eastern Jerusalem in August 2006 by someone affiliated with Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
- Juliano Mer-Khamis, an Israeli citizen of mixed Jewish-Arab parentage, killed in early April 2011 in Jenin by persons unknown. Nov. 21, 2013 update: According to Adam Shatz, the author of a long piece on Mer-Khamis, "The investigation of Juliano's murder has been fruitless."
- Vittorio Arrigoni, another Italian, killed in recent days in Gaza by a Salafi group holding him hostage. Apr. 16, 2011 update: The New York Times story on the assassination of Arrigoni, by Fares Akram & Isabel Kershner and datelined Gaza, wrongly states that he "appears to be the first pro-Palestinian activist in memory to have been killed here by Palestinians." Apr. 15, 2012 update: The "Elder of Ziyon" blog notes that "the Fatah-leaning Palestine Press Agency and the independent Ma'an News Agency are reporting today that the group that killed Arrigoni was 'working for the occupation'," i.e., for Israel. Comment: Can the Palestinians not be honest about anything? Sep. 17, 2012 update: A Hamas court found four men guilty of Arrigoni's murder and imposed very slight sentences - two of 35 years, one of 10, one of 1 - suggesting that Hamas does not find his death all that disturbing. Feb. 19, 2013 update: The Los Angeles Times reports that a Hamas court reduced the life sentences of two of Arrigoni's killers, Mahmoud Salfiti and Tamer Husasna, to 15 years. That does not quite jibe with the ABC News report cited above from Sep. 17, 2012, but does it confirm the general point that Hamas is not too upset about the murder of its Italian groupie. June 21, 2015 update: Further evidence that Hamas hardly cares to punish Arrigoni's killers: It reportedly allowed Salfiti, 27, a Ramadan leave from jail, which he promptly used to evade the authorities, escape Gaza, and join ISIS. July 3, 2015 update: For the implications of Salfiti's escape, see "Questions emerge over Hamas' ability to secure Gaza" in Al-Monitor. Nov. 28, 2015 update: Salfiti was killed fighting for ISIS in Anbar province, western Iraq.
 Vittorio Arrigoni, an Italian would-be Palestinian. |
 The tattoo on Arrigoni's arm says "Resistance" in Arabic, the war-slogan of the Iranian regime. |
- Three young Italian women of an anti-Israel disposition run for their lives in the West Bank to avoid rape by some of the Palestinian men they want to help in the opening of Claudia Radici's novel, Love Beyond the Fence (in Italian: Marina e Yaròn. E se una ragazza no global e un soldato israeliano...?). (May 25, 2013)
- Josef Antebi, a Dutch anti-Zionist haredi rabbi was assaulted in the Hague by a young man who "had relatively dark skin and didn't look very Dutch, or at least didn't look like his family has been living in Holland for centuries." Antebi could understand his attackers motives: "I'm not surprised he did what he did, it's human behavior. The one to blame is the Zionist state, which is doing a lot of bad things to people." (June 25, 2013)
- Daniel Seideman, an extreme anti-Zionist Israeli, was struck by a rock thrown at his car on Nov. 23 while driving through Sur Bahir, an Arab area of Jerusalem. The deep gash on the back of his head required stitches. Seideman wrote his conclusions from the incident on his Facebook page: "For me this changes nothing. ... As long as the occupation exists, events like this will happen and no one is exempt from them." (November 25, 2013)
- Fifteen Israeli "peace activists" traveled to Ramallah on Jan. 8 for a "Ordinary People Make Peace" event with Palestinian counterparts. But then scores of violent protesters, screaming "Normalization is an act of treason" and other slogans, smashing windows, and trying to enter the meeting, forced its cancellation and the hasty exit of the Israelis under heavy police escort. (January 9, 2014) Jan. 21, 2014 update: Reflecting on this incident, Khaled Abu Toameh notes that the protesters "are acting against Israelis who openly support the Palestinian issue and are completely opposed to the policies of the current Israeli government. In other words, the Palestinians are "spitting in the face" of those Israelis who support their demands and are prepared to put their lives at risk by entering Ramallah to talk peace.
- Amira Hass thrown out of Bir Zeit University: One of the leading anti-Zionist Israelis, Ha'aretz journalist Hass recounts how she was tossed out of a conference on "Alternatives to Neo-Liberal Development in the Occupied Palestinian Territories – Critical Perspectives," allegedly for her own safety, just because she is a Jewish Israeli. (September 28, 2014)
- Riot against U.S. officials at An-Najah University: American consular officials visited the Nablus-based campus as part of an effort to support Palestinian educational and cultural activities, only to be met by dozens of students chanting anti-U.S. slogans and angry that Washington "supports Israel" and their cars temporarily prevented from entering the university. (September 29, 2014)
Khaled Abu Toameh notes the two recent incidents at Palestinian universities and explains on them in "Palestinians: We Hate You, Even If You Support Us":
Over the past two decades, Palestinians, like most Arabs, have been subjected to a large-scale campaign of incitement against Israel and the US. This is a campaign that is being waged through the media, especially Arab and Islamic TV stations, the internet, mosques and the rhetoric of leaders and politicians. As a result of the ongoing incitement, some Palestinians and Arabs are no longer able to distinguish between those who support them and those who stand against them.
He notes the implications of this myopia:
The two incidents once again prove that peace is impossible unless Palestinians stop inciting their people against Israel and Jews. Ironically, the Palestinian Authority, which is engaged in daily contacts with Israel, publicly supports anti-Israeli boycott campaigns. If those who support the Palestinians no longer feel safe visiting Palestinian universities and cities, the Palestinians need to realize that the incitement is making them lose even their closest friends and allies.
(October 3, 2014)
Mar. 19, 2023 update: It's not clear if Jerald Hetzel and his companion are just tourists, as described in the media, or Palestinian groupies (they had visited the West Bank before; and note the bit about not being Jewish), but their experience fits the general scope of this weblog entry. The two were riding along in a rented car when
We were literally attacked by a mob of young angry people from the street. They suddenly came out of the taxis and surrounded us, and we tried to explain in English that we are tourists from Germany, that we are both not Jewish so that we are not a target for them. But they didn't understand, they didn't even listen. They just screamed at us, and they started to bump our car with their fists, and then they took traffic signs and rocks and began to throw them at us. ...
It definitely changes my mind about the Palestinians because until now, I had better experiences with them, and it just showed me that out of nothing, they could attack you. They were so triggered by this really, really small Israeli flag on the car that they decided to attack us, and I don't know if they wanted to kill us, but we definitely had that impression.
- Palestinians attacked and wounded two members of the far-left organization "Looking the Occupation in the Eyes" (on which, click here) as they traveled to accompany Palestinian shepherds. (March 28, 2024)
