The truth is on our side

"The Oslo orphans in the West Bank are willing to sacrifice themselves," ran a headline in French newspaper Le Monde this week. In the article we learn about Muhammad Halabi, 19, "a law student from Al-Quds University in Jerusalem, who several days prior to stabbing two Israelis to death (and was then himself killed), attended a memorial service for a friend who was shot to death by IDF soldiers near Hebron." After the ceremony, according to Le Monde, Halabi sat down in front of his computer and wrote on his Facebook page: "After what I saw today, I am convinced this university will create the generation that will continue on the path."

Halabi was mostly outraged over the "mosque plaza" events on the Temple Mount, during which after the Jewish holidays "Israeli soldiers and protesters who barricaded themselves in the Al-Aqsa mosque clashed, on a daily basis, over the desire of Jewish extremists to visit the Temple Mount plaza." Missing from the Le Monde story was the fact that the Temple Mount, as well as being Islam's third-holiest site, is the holiest site for Jews.

The article itself was updated on Tuesday, on the day Adele Bennett and her son Natan were discharged from the hospital. She had seen her husband and the father of her children, Avi Bennett, murdered by the very same Halabi in the streets of the Old City of Jerusalem, while nearby merchants stood by refusing to help. But these details are apparently not important. Because why focus on the Jewish victim when you can try understanding and explaining the attackers' motives? The Jewish victim, in the foreign press, can wait. To be sure, the Palestinian attacker, in their view, is already holy from birth, so why die to become a "shahid"-

The lack of personalization for the Jewish victim was evident as early as the Second Intifada, in contrast to the flirtation with glorifying the Palestinian suicide bomber. After all, there is jihadist terrorism and then there are desperate Palestinian youths, whose only choices in life are between death and occupation. This is how it is usually presented.

It's not all negative, though. The Wall Street Journal, for instance, concedes that the "coverage is slanted against Israel," according to the paper's foreign affairs commentator who lambastes the reporting out of Israel and vehemently rejects the claim that the outburst of violence stems from exasperation over the peace process or economy. On Tuesday, we could see that the reports were more positive from our perspective, even in the British press. The BBC was fair enough to report that the "three who were killed in the attacks in Jerusalem" were Israelis. We have reached the point where we no longer want sympathy, just simple, honest reporting.

It is still unclear how this current terror wave will unfold and what it will be called (Terrorism of knives? Intifada of lies? Terrorism of youth-), but it is very similar to its predecessors. Evidently, the very link between Jews and the Temple Mount is enough to make Palestinians youngsters take to the streets, with knives if possible.

The means, however, have changed, and we need to respond accordingly. We cannot give in. Israel must fight back on the Internet, in the media, on university campuses. The inciters need to be found and challenged. They need to be exposed. Their lies must be made public. The painful truth needs to be revealed. And the truth has nothing to do with occupation. The truth has nothing to do with desperation. The truth has nothing to do with the lack of a peace process, or perspective, or the social fabric. I will quote Bret Stephens from the Wall Street Journal: "Please. It's time to stop furnishing Palestinians with the excuses they barely bother making for themselves. Above all, it’s time to give hatred its due."

Because this war is about our right to live in our country, it is for the City of David. Indeed, we need a strong army and a military presence, but also to maintain our Jewish values. If we don't, then how will we be able to explain the righteousness of our path and our right to exist to our children-

The time has come to change our approach. We will seek out the inciters in international bodies; we will invite the press, which we will treat as an honest client; we will incessantly speak of our bond to the holy places. And if the Europeans insist on making a distinction between jihadist terror and "legitimate" Palestinian terror, we will wish them, on behalf of our values, that they never experience what we are experiencing.

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