Thursday, June 25, 2020

The rush to exploit the death of Ahmed Erakat

Ahmed Erakat,  distraught, filmed himself.  The 27 year old's rambling confessional denied he was a spy, and spoke of shaming his family. 

Later, a video camera captured the moment he swerved  his car to hit an Israeli border guard then attempted to dash from the vehicle.

From the police statement: “He waited for a good moment, turned from the center of the lane to get a better angle to hurt the officer and then accelerated, turning his car 90 degrees and lunged wildly at the troops”.

The border guards opened fire, and Erakat was killed.

It was no accident.  “He saw that I took a step, he looked me in the eye, turned the steering wheel and rammed into me, and I flew to the other side” of the road divider, Border Policewoman Shani Orr Hama Kadosh said.

Was the car ramming attack a deliberate attempt to restore honor to his family?

Car ramming attacks have been widely promoted and encouraged in the Palestinian media. The message is clear- use your car as a weapon.




A sampler:

March 2019: An IDF officer was seriously wounded and a border policeman was lightly wounded in a car ramming attack
July 2019 Hizma, just north of Jerusalem: Five IDF soldiers were injured in a ramming attack.

2017 4  people were killed and 11 injured when an Israeli Arab drove his truck into a group plowed into a group of soldiers leaving a bus in East Talpiot.

April 2017 Palestinian  rammed his car into a bus stop, killing Elchai Taharlev (20) injuring one other 

October 2014, a Palestinian rammed his car into a crowd of people waiting at the Ammunition Hill light rail station in Jerusalem. A three-month-old baby was killed along along with a 22-year-old Ecuadorian. Seven others were injured.

November 2014  A Hamas operative[ deliberately drove a van at high speed into a crowd of people waiting at a light rail station in Jerusalem, then left his van, and attacked pedestrians with a crowbar.  Three people were killed, and thirteen were wounded.

November 2014  Palestinian terrorist attempted to run his vehicle into a crowd waiting at a bus stop,  got out and killed a young woman and wounding two others.

August 2014 Jerusalem tractor attack An Arab terrorist drove a tractor  onto a major street, killing one and  injuring seven others before ramming the tractor into a public bus, overturning the bus and and ramming it repeatedly. 

Others have suggested that Erakat's death might have been a "suicide by cop".

Noura Erakat eagerly attempted to exploit the event, calling Ahmed her "baby cousin".  A family member was quick to correct her,  accusing the Rutgers Professor of using "sensationalist words" to increase her "personal exposure"




The Museum of the Palestinian People also jumped on the bandwagon, and featured an illustration of the attempted murderer, because, well, Jew-hate is something to be exalted,  even at the Museum level. 

And  no, this isn't a museum in Ramallah.  This is one in Washington DC.

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