50 Palestinians shot as Israeli teen killed in explosion
An Israeli teen was killed and her father and brother were injured in an explosion near the Jewish settlement of Dolev northwest of the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah on Friday.
The same day, Israeli occupation forces injured more than 100 Palestinians in the occupied Gaza Strip, 50 of them with live bullets.
The teen was identified as 17-year-old Rina Shnerb, who was declared dead at the scene, according to Israeli daily Haaretz.
Her death brings to nine the number of Israelis killed in conflict-related violence since the start of the year.
In the same period, Israeli occupation forces and armed settlers have killed almost 90 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Shnerb’s father, 46, and her brother, 21, were both transferred to the Hadassah hospital in Jerusalem for emergency treatment. The father’s condition is stable while the brother is on life support.
The Israeli army claimed an “improvised explosive device” was either hurled at the family or was already present in the area where the family was hiking, but ruled out the possibility that it was thrown from a moving vehicle.
Israeli occupation forces set up checkpoints, blockading the area and deploying Israeli soldiers to search for suspects.
Israel typically imposes harsh collective punishment measures on Palestinians following such incidents.
Pressure for revenge will likely be even greater than usual as Israel is in the midst of an election campaign.
Lawmakers to the right even of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu demanded immediate annexation of the entire occupied West Bank.
Avigdor Lieberman, the former defense minister and a rival of the Israeli prime minister, claimed the attack was a result of Netanyahu’s “policies of surrender.”
The identity of the suspect remains unknown, but Israeli and American officials and propagandists immediately began blaming Palestinians:
A 17 year-old Israeli girl, Rina Shnerb, was killed this morning when a bomb planted by a Palestinian terrorist exploded where she and her family were hiking. Her father and brother were wounded in the attack. https://www.timesofisrael.com/three-israelis-seriously-hurt-in-explosion-at-west-bank-spring/ …
The murder of Rina Shnerb z”l by a Palestinian terrorist this morning is an outrage. May God send comfort to her family in their mourning, and healing to the wounded. May the killer and those responsible be brought to justice.2381:11 PM – Aug 23, 2019
Pro-Israel lobbyist Arsen Ostrovsky used the death of Shnerb to single out US congresswomen Rashida Tlaiband Ilhan Omar, demanding a condemnation:
This is Rina Shnerb. She was a beautiful young 17 year old #Israeli girl, murdered today by Palestinian terrorists in #Dolev for no reason other than being Jewish. May her memory be blessed!
Hello @RashidaTlaib @IlhanMN. Will you condemn her murder, stand up for her rights?
Dov Lipman, former member of the Israeli parliament, also used the teen’s death to attack progressive Jewish group IfNotNow, co-director of antiwar group CODEPINK, Ariel Gold, and congresswomen Tlaib, Omar and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez:
Hey @RashidaTlaib , @AOC , @IlhanMN , @IfNotNowOrg , @ArielElyseGold: look at this face. It’s 17-year-old Rina Shnerb. She was alive a few hours ago. Now she isn’t. She was murdered by #Palestinian terrorists while on a hike. The PA will pay the murderers. Care to comment please?
US Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt called on the Palestinian Authority to condemn the attack.
Jason D. Greenblatt✔@jdgreenblatt45
Hamas praised 17yo Rina Shnerb’s murder by Palestinian terrorists. The PA must unequivocally condemn this attack & the recent murder of 18yo Dvir Sorek. If they don’t, donor countries should demand the PA answer for why their donor funds continue to be used to reward attacks.1,0372:37 PM – Aug 23, 2019
Yair Netanyahu, the son of Israeli prime minister, used the occasion to attack the European Union for funding the Palestinian Authority, which he claims pays money to “terrorists.”
Yair Netanyahu is trolling @EUinIsrael that it funds Palestinian Authority. That’s funny because yesterday, Abu Yair (Benjamin @Netanyahu) transferred $560 million to the PA. Israel incites against PA while relying on it to enforce the occupation. https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-fuel-crisis-is-over-palestinians-to-accept-568-million-from-israel-1.7733019 … https://twitter.com/YairNetanyahu/status/1164860686339629056 …‘Fuel crisis between PA and Israel over’: Palestinians to accept $568 million in tax moneyhaaretz.com
Yair Netanyahu ✔@YairNetanyahuReplying to @EGiaufretEU @IsraelMFAIt will be better if you just stop paying money for the organizations and the PA that pay money and glorify terrorists.4012:43 PM – Aug 23, 2019
The younger Netanyahu seemed oblivious to the fact that just a day earlier his father’s government had agreed to transfer $560 million in withheld tax funds to the PA.
Despite the anti-PA rhetoric from Israeli leaders and propagandists, Israel remains dependent on “security coordination” with the Mahmoud Abbas-led Palestinian Authority to help maintain the occupation.
As The Times of Israel noted following one Israeli minister’s call Friday to dismantle the Palestinian Authority, “the PA has been working in coordination with the [Israeli army] to try to thwart terror attacks.”
Member of religious Zionist group
The teen killed was a religious instructor at Bnei Akiva, a religious Zionist youth movement.
Rabbi Noam Perel, the secretary-general of the group, once called for turning the Israeli military into an army of avengers “which will not stop at 300 Philistine foreskins.”
Palestinian resistance organization Hamas lauded what it perceived as an act of “resistance.”
“The crimes of the occupation and its arrogance against our people, our land and our holy places will not pass without retaliation,” the group stated.
It did not, however, take credit for the attack.
Paramedics injured in Gaza
Meanwhile, Israeli snipers opened fire on Palestinian protesters and paramedics near the Israel-Gaza boundary fence on Friday.
More than 100 Palestinians were injured, some 50 of them by live fire.
They included three paramedics shot with rubber-coated steel bullets, according to Gaza’s health ministry.
Friday marked the 71st week of the Great March of Return protests calling for an end to Israel’s siege and demanding that Palestinian refugees be allowed to exercise their right to return.
This comes less than a week after an unnamed senior Israeli government official revealed that Israel is actively encouraging and ready to facilitate mass emigration of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip.
Two million Palestinians live in the tiny territory, two-thirds of them refugees from towns and villages in what is now Israel. Israel does not allow Palestinian refugees to return to their homes because they are not Jews.
Since the beginning of the month, nine Palestinians Israel claims were armed have been killed in incidents along the Israel-Gaza boundary fence according to the UN monitoring group OCHA.
Palestinian resistance factions warned last week that Gaza was “a volcano that is about to erupt” and that “Israel is continuing to play with fire.”
