A tale of two terrorists

Nedal Amar and Muhammad Mafarja seem to have little in common, other than that both of them have been indicted or even already convicted for notorious acts of terror.

Muhammed Abed Al Jaffer Nasser Mafarja in court Photo: ben hartman

That is, other than that both of them have been indicted or even already convicted for notorious acts of terror, and curiously, both of them were working in Israeli restaurants at the time the terrorist acts were perpetrated.

Amar has been indicted for the murder of IDF Sgt. Tomer Hazan, 20, whom he knew personally and was friendly with – they were coworkers in a Bat Yam restaurant.

Mafarja has been convicted of injuring 26 and the attempted murder of an even larger number of passengers as part of theNovember 2012 Tel Aviv bus bombing in the middle of Operation Pillar of Defense.

Unlike Amar, Mafarja did not know any of the passengers and was allegedly seeking to harm persons he did not know.

Amar allegedly strangled Hazan with his own hands and a belt from his brother’s pants after Hazan had been fooled into being blindfolded and hand-cuffed.

Allegedly, Amar’s purpose was to trade Hazan – dead or alive – for the freedom of his brother, in prison since 2003 for other terrorist acts.

Amar’s idea was another Gilad Schalit kind of prisoner exchange, but just for his brother’s freedom.

There is no evidence that Hazan had any prior criminal record, nor that he had fanatical, nationalistic or any other motivations other than trying to free his brother, who begged him to undertake the kidnapping.

Mafarja on the other hand placed a bomb on a bus, left the vehicle and then another operative detonated the bomb remotely. His hands remained “clean.”

Mafarja has admitted that his actions were ideological, though he has said that his goal was not so much to kill people per se, but rather to convince the IDF to stop its military actions in Gaza.

The two men offered a completely different presence in court.

Amar looked exhausted, downtrodden, close to tears and was open about regretting his actions, even volunteering that he hoped that Hazan was the last victim in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

He was short, skinny and did not look the picture of the scary terrorist (recalling that he strangled Hazan while Hazan was bound and blindfolded).

Mafarja was short, but heavily built, and while he looked out of sorts, he exchanged some jokes and smiles with his lawyer and his Arabic translator, and ranged from yawning to watching his translator playing with his cellphone.

Amar looked worn down from the recent events in his life and mostly kept his head down.

Mafarja had a baby face and, though certainly nervous, kept his head up throughout, seeming curious about his surroundings, and surveying the room.

As different as the two are, the most important fact that will likely summarize at least the next few decades of their lives, is that each of them were allegedly involved in acts of terror and might spend those decades behind bars.

Moreover, until regret sets in with potential terrorists before, and not after, they commit an act of terror, it is unlikely that these victims will be the last victims and far more likely that any victims of these two men, both radically different and similar, will just be added to a list born of a conflict with no foreseeable end. 

Jerusalem Post

Israeli toddler injured in Jerusalem arab stoning attack

2-year-old suffers head wound as car is pelted by an unknown assailant; attack comes amid rise in West Bank violence

A 2-year-old Israeli girl sustained a moderate head wound on Thursday evening when a rock was hurled at a vehicle in which she was traveling in Armon Hanatziv, a predominantly Jewish Jerusalem neighborhood just over the Green Line.

Paramedics rushed the toddler to Hadassah Hospital in the capital’s Ein Kerem neighborhood. Doctors said the child was in stable condition.

An initial report on Channel 2 said that the stone may have been thrown from the adjacent Arab neighborhood of Sur Baher.

Police launched an investigation into the incident and were searching the area for the perpetrator of the attack.

Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat called on authorities to crack down on a recent wave of stone throwing attacks in the city. “It’s about time we start treating a stone as a weapon,” he told Israel’s Channel 10 TV.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wished the girl a speedy recovery. “We will find these criminals and bring them to justice,” he said.

The incident comes amid a surge in the number and severity of violent attacks against Israelis on both sides of the Green Line in recent months.

Earlier in November, a couple driving along a road in the West Bank near the settlement of Tekoa were wounded, and their car was destroyed, in a Molotov cocktail attack.

In mid-November, a Palestinian teenager stabbed 19-year-old soldier Eden Atias multiple times in the neck, killing him as he slept in the adjacent seat on a bus at the central bus station in Afula.

The assailant, 16-year-old Hussein Rawarda, had entered Israel illegally in search of work and apparently decided to carry out the deadly attack after failing to be hired by an Israeli employer.

Slightly before the stabbing, former Shin Bet chief Yuval Diskin said the Palestinians were ripe for a “third intifada.” However, Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon said that recent attacks were isolated incidents, insisting that “there is no sign of a popular uprising.”

In March, three-year-old Adele Biton was critically injured when rocks were thrown at her mother’s car near the settlement of Ariel, causing a major accident. She was released from a Ra’anana hospital in July, after nearly two and a half months of treatment in the facility’s intensive care unit.

Times of Israel