“My son is a hero. He made me proud. My son died as a Martyr defending Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa Mosque. …Allah willing, all of them will follow this path, all the youth of Palestine. Allah be praised.”
Those were the words of Mohammed Taraireh’s mother to Palestinian media hours after he butchered a 13-year-old Israeli girl, Hallel Yaffe Ariel (pictured). Mohammed was shot and killed by security officials responding to Hallel’s screams.
While Mrs. Taraireh proudly owned her son’s savagery, official Palestinian Authority media suggested the attack might not have taken place, and that Israeli forces killed Mohammed for no reason.
It is this Palestinian society with which Israel is expected to find a genuine and lasting peace. As seen in these in these two examples, Palestinian society is either celebrating violence against Israel, or denying it altogether.
The one thing the Palestinians are not doing is fulfilling their peace obligations to condemn violence and educate their population for peaceful coexistence.
Originally posted at Israel Today Magazine.