Terror Attacks in Beer Sheva

Explosions have reportedly ripped through two buses in Beer Sheva. At this stage, the media are reporting that at least 15 people have been wounded. (Photo: Reuters)

 

While this is the first suicide bombing since March 14th, our soldiers are constantly preventing such attacks. In fact, it was earlier today that IDF soldiers foiled a suicide bombing attempt.

 

Update 3:30PM: Channel 2 have reported that a third attack occured at the Beer Sheva mall.

 

Update 3:40PM: At least 12 killed and dozens wounded at this stage

 

Update 3:45PM: The usual equivocal condemnation from the PA:

Palestinian Minister Saeb Erekat said “the Palestinian Authority condemns any attacks that target civilians, whether Israelis or Palestinian.”

Only the PLO Arab terrorists are targeting civilians.

 

Update 6:00PM: 15 killed and 100 wounded. Also, reports of a third attack were not accurate.

 

Update 6:15PM: Up until today, Beer Sheva had largely been spared the horrors of terrorist attacks.

 

After I immigrated to Israel in late 2000, I lived not far from Beer Sheva, and commuted to, and within, the southern city every day. Even as terrorist infiltrations were occurring regularly around Israel, I always felt particularly safe in Beer Sheva, especially with its large Bedouin population and relatively terror-free history. Today’s murders prove that such thoughts are more wishful thinking than anything else.

 

Why Beer Sheva? I believe the answer lies here:

So here’s what we need to do:

 

1. Build the fence. Faster.

 

2. Hit Hamas and the other terrorist organizations hard.

 

3. Ignore the inevitable condemnation directed against Israel while we do 1. and 2.

 

4. Capture Afatrat and put him on trial for crimes against humanity.

 

5. Cease talking about disengagement or a PLO Arab state while attacks like today are occurring.

 

Defending ourselves is not just a right; it is a moral imperative.

 

So-called moderate Muslims also need to speak out against today’s attack. Because the longer they remain silent, the more I begin to believe that they constitute an insignificant minority of Muslims. And that is not a pleasant thought.

 

Update 6:35PM: I have to concur with David when he says the following:

As I sit here in my office, I am still shaking with anger… and feeling more than a bit useless. I can’t give blood, having done that just three weeks ago before going abroad. I have no particular skills or knowledge that would be of any help at the site of the two blasts.

So I sit here and wonder idly who was unlucky today. Who woke up this morning and committed the unforgivable crime of going about their business on a Beer Sheva municipal bus. Who is writhing in agony in a hospital 5 minutes from my comfortable air-conditioned office… and who has ceased writhing.

Since I can’t do anything… instead I’ll ask a few questions in order to gain some clarity:

Where is the outrage from the ‘moderates’? Where is the spontaneous condemnation from the estimated 1.2 billion Muslims who practice this so-called ‘religion of peace’? If this violence is being perpetrated by a small radical minority… surely there must be some murmur of discomfiture from the rest, right? Why can’t the world’s media machines with their ravenous 24 hour news cycles locate even one credible Muslim to make such a statement?

Actions speak louder than words… far louder. So before anyone gives me any more lectures about the silent majority of Muslims who simply want to live in peace… maybe they should take a moment to consider that the Muslims of the world seem to have a somewhat different definition of peace than the rest of us.

From this point on… as far as I’m concerned, if you are a Muslim and you do not loudly and unequivocally condemn the unspeakable savagery of your coreligionists… you are as guilty as the animals who kidnap and behead random victims… who blow airliners full of human beings out of the sky… and who strap on explosive belts in order to blow up innocent civilians on the streets of a (fomerly) sleepy desert city.

Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei also condemned the bombings, Reuters reported. “Killing civilians, whether from the Palestinian side or from the Israeli side, will achieve nothing except hatred and more enmity and therefore we condemn that strongly,” he said.