A suicide bomber has murdered 5 people, with 50 so far wounded, in a terror attack in Netanya this morning. And it could have been worse – a heck of a lot worse – if not for the quick thinking of a woman, and the courage of some guards.An eye-witness said that he spotted a man walking “like a robot” to the mall. He said that another woman who saw him shouted to the security guards at entrance to the shopping center: “Suicide bomber, suicide bomber!”The guards stopped the man and pushed him up against the wall, and nearby police officers rushed to help. At that point, the bomber detonated the explosives he had in his bag. One of the security guards was killed and the the policemen were wounded.
Some of the responses to this latest atrocity are predictable.
PA leader Mahmoud Abbas has, as usual, condemned the attack on the basis that it doesn’t serve palestinian interests. Not because murdering innocent people is immoral and evil.
The terrorists once again blame it on Israel, but cannot keep track of their lies. On one hand, a senior Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade member implied that if the attack was perpetrated by his organization, then it was retaliation for Israel’s killing of palestinians (I assume he means terrorists we have killed in the last few weeks).
“Israeli escalation and the shedding of Palestinian blood cannot occur without a response of the Palestinian resistance, at any time and in any place,” he added.
He also implied that if Israel refrained from going after terrorists, there would be no such attacks.
Abu-Mahmoud said that when the organization committed itself to the period of calm, it also stated that the calm depended on Israel’s approach, and that any Israeli violation would provoke retaliation.
However, Islamic Jihad took responsibility for the attack, claiming that these attacks would continue “as long as there is occupation.”
Imad Abu Diab, a leader of the Islamic Jihad in Tulkarm, told The Jerusalem Post that “the tahdiya (or “calm”) no longer exists and that operations against Israel will continue as long as there is occupation.
The Associated Press have, like last time, decided to portray the grief – of the suicide bomber’s family – with pictures such as this one:
The brother of Lotfi Abu Saada, 23, a suicide bomber who blew himself up Monday in the Israeli city of Netanya, is seen in the family house in the West Bank village of Illar near Tulkarem, Monday Dec. 5, 2005. Abu Saada blew himself up killing five Israelis. At left is a picture of the bomber when he was a child. (AP Photo/Nasser Ishtayeh)
Notice how AP attempt to pull at the heart strings by showing the picture of the terrorist as a small child (and mentioning this in the caption). And in case you missed it, they have a separate close-up picture.
Funny, but I don’t seem to recall the mainstream media ever running with a childhood picture of a terror victim.
Updates: Obviously not content with the extent of sympathy that could be generated from the above pictures, AP crank it up a notch, depicting more grief from the bomber’s family..
Aminah, center, the mother of Lotfi Abu Saada, 23, a suicide bomber who blew himself up Monday in the Israeli city of Netanya, and unidentified family members react at her house in the West Bank village of Illar near Tulkarem, Monday Dec. 5, 2005. Abu Saada blew himself up killing five Israelis. (AP Photo/Mohammed Ballas)
..and a close-up of the close-up of the photo of the bomber as a child.
