Ayala Shapiro isn’t old enough to have political views or determine where she will live. And at age 11, it is unclear whether she will ever have the chance to decide her politics or abode. So one has to wonder why The Forward, quoting from Reuters, felt it necessary to imply that a terrorist had a good reason for throwing a firebomb at her.
Ayala is sedated and has undergone several surgeries to treat her burns and restore functioning to her airways since she was attacked Thursday night. Her injuries are critical. Her father was injured, as well, but not to the same extent. Here is why:
There were two terrorists involved in this attack. One of the terrorists ran in front of the Shapiros’ car to force Ayala’s father to slow down and stop. The other terrorist went around to the passenger side of the car as it slowed, and threw a firebomb directly at Ayala, who was sitting in the passenger seat.
Here is what the car looked like after the attack.
Here is what Reuters and The Forward had to say about the attack:
A firebomb attack on a car in the occupied West Bank left an 11-year-old Israeli girl severely burned and her father injured on Thursday, the Israeli military said.
The Israeli military said the suspected Palestinian attack was near the Ma’ale Shomron Jewish settlement, north of the West Bank city of Nablus.
Video footage of the incident obtained by Reuters TV showed firefighters trying to douse the flames engulfing a vehicle on the side of a road after darkness fell.
The military did not say whether the victims of the attack were settlers, who are bitterly resented by many Palestinians.
Palestinians want to establish a state in East Jerusalem, the occupied West Bank and Gaza, territories Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war.
This is a picture of Ayala.
So maybe The Forward thinks it, the attack, really went down this way:
Two clean cut young men wanted their land back. They wanted self-determination. So one of them flagged down a car while the second one made his way to the passenger side of the car where Ayala was sitting, and politely tapped on her window, asking, “Excuse me Ma’am, are you by any chance a settler?” Only after determining that this little girl is occupying and oppressing him, did this young man do what was necessary to restore his pride, his rights to his land. . .
Um, no.
Justice does not look like that. And everyone knows it. There is no justification, no rationale for an evil act such as this. None at all. No religious justification. No legal justification. No moral justification. Not in any sense.
It is pure evil. Antisemitic evil. It is the Devil in Arab clothes, killing Jews for being Jews, and worse yet, for being Jews in the Promised Land.
That is something The Forward cannot stomach. Jews in their own land. Little girls growing up in the land God gave them. It cannot be countenanced, if you are The Forward.
I would posit that The Forward, and Reuters, too, has no moral compass. To offer up any kind of reason at all for the evil done to a little girl is amoral. It just beggars belief.
I would ask them: what kind of person firebombs a little girl sitting in her father’s car? What was Ayala’s sin that you fail to express any compassion for her? How is it that any news outlet would imply that Ayala deserves to be fighting for her life, potentially scarred for life, undergoing painful treatment? And even if she lives, please God let her live! How will she deal with the emotional aftermath of this attack? How will she look to her peers? Will she be attractive enough to find a spouse? Healthy enough to have children, hold down a job? How will she manage to get through life with her injuries? Will she start at every tap on a window? Will she be able to ever ride in a car again?
When will you ever take responsibility for the words you print—the evil they excuse, perpetuate, and encourage?
When will you grow a conscience?
