Stabbing victim undeterred, calls on Arabs to embrace peace

Michal Froman, who was stabbed by a Palestinian terrorist on Monday, says her new lease on life will have her focus on strengthening what is good in this world. "I may have cheated death, but I did not defeat terrorism," she said on Thursday after being discharged from the Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem.

Froman, 30, who is 18 weeks pregnant, sustained moderate wounds when she was attacked in Tekoa, a Jewish community in Judea and Samaria. Froman, the daughter-in-law of the late Rabbi Menachem Froman, a prominent advocate for coexistence, did not let this incident alter her views on her Arab neighbors.

"The ambulance driver who drove me had more human compassion than many of the Jews know," she said shortly after the attack, according to the Ynet news website. "I call on Arabs like him to join hands and do something together to change things. ... I know this is hard, and it may take many years to achieve, but together we will emerge victorious; the faster we get this done, the better things are for everyone," she said.

She said she was awed by the compassion toward her while she was in the hospital. "What I feel now is a love for life, a love for people, for the people of Israel, for the people who surrounded me; I feel a great urge to give back and to implement the lessons I learned from this ordeal -- namely, to make life stronger and to give to others."

Dr. Ofer Merin, head of Shaare Zedek's trauma unit, said that the stabbing resulted in a broken shoulder blade as well as a punctured lung, which led to internal bleeding. "This was a double miracle," Merin said Thursday. "She could have suffered much greater injuries that would have threatened the fetus."

Meanwhile, Interior Minister Aryeh Deri revoked the permanent residency status of four terrorists from east Jerusalem on Thursday.

Three of them -- Muhammad Salah Muhammad Abu Kaf, 18, Walid Fares Mustafa Atrash, 18, and Abed Muhammad Abed Rabo Dawiat, 17 -- were behind a fatal terrorist attack that took place on Sept. 13. According to prosecutors, the three threw rocks on Israeli vehicles traveling near the Armon Hanatziv neighborhood in Jerusalem and caused Israeli driver Alexander Levlovich's car to veer into a ditch. Levlovich was seriously injured and died the following morning. Two female passengers were also injured in the crash.

According to the indictment, Dawiyat noticed Levlovich's car, grabbed a stone some 10 centimeters (4 inches) in diameter and weighing around 1 kilogram (2 pounds), and hurled it toward the car from a short distance. The three said this was an act of retribution for alleged Israeli actions on the Temple Mount. They were recently indicted for manslaughter, as well as a series of other serious crimes, including causing grievous bodily harm, reckless endangerment, assaulting a police officer, arson and weapons manufacturing.

The fourth terrorist to have his permanent residency revoked is Bilal Abu Ghanem, who carried out a shooting attack on an Egged bus in the capital. According to prosecutors, Abu Ghanem and another terrorist, Baha Alyan, stabbed and shot passengers when the bus passed through the Armon Hanatziv neighborhood, not far from where Levlovich was killed and exactly a month later. Three Israelis were killed in that attack. Aylan was killed by security forces but Abu Ghanem was detained.

"We cannot let someone who murdered Israelis and compromised its [Israel's] security continue enjoying the privileges [of being a permanent resident]," Deri said. "Terrorists should know that from now on, their actions will have consequences, apart from jail time."

Arabs in east Jerusalem have been granted residency status following the 1967 Six-Day War, when several villages were incorporated into to the capital's municipal boundaries. Owing to this status, they can claim certain social benefits, they are covered by Israeli state-run healthcare services and they can vote in municipal elections. They can apply for citizenship as well, but the vast majority of them have chosen not to do so.

"This is an extraordinary measure, but the severity of their actions warrant this decision, without question," Deri said. "The terrorists could travel freely inside Israel owing to their permanent residency status and the color of their identity card, and they abused this privilege. Having permanent residency status comes hand in hand with basic loyalty and commitment [to the state]; being a resident, especially a permanent resident, is not only about rights; there are also duties involved; anyone who wants to hold on to this status should know that it comes with both rights and duties."

טעינו? נתקן! אם מצאתם טעות בכתבה, נשמח שתשתפו אותנו