Teen who killed bulldozer terrorist was nearly banned from the army
There's an interview on Arutz Sheva's website today with 18-year old M [the Jerusalem Magistrates Court has now forbidden publication of his name. CiJ], the off-duty IDF soldier who shot and killed the bulldozer terrorist on Jaffa Road yesterday and put an end to the carnage. (By the way, I looked online for a photo of M to embed in this post and could not find one; if anyone has one in *.jpg, *.cif, *.bmp or *.png format, please email it to me and I will add it to this post). The interview shows that M is the kind of guy that Israel's left loves to hate.M did not wish to speak with the media, but hours afterwards read a written statement. He began by calling the attack a "murderous attack on our holy and beloved land, part of the war in which we find ourselves." He then thanked all those who, he said, had a hand in helping him act correctly: "First of all, thanks to G-d, and secondly to the education and upbringing I received, beginning in the Morashah Talmud Torah in Jerusalem, and then the Dimona Yeshiva High School, and then the Yitzhar and Kiryat Arba Hesder yeshivot, and finally to my army training, for helping me act in the way every soldier and citizen should. I also wish to thank my brother-in-law David Shapira for serving as a personal example [Shapira was one of the two who killed the terrorist in Merkaz HaRav earlier this year - ed.] "There's also an interview with Oron Ben Shimon in the same post, so make sure to read the whole thing.
"As far as what happened," M continued: "I was bicycling from the center of town [westward] towards my home, when I saw a bulldozer battering a bus lying on its side and a lot of commotion. I immediately realized that it was a terrorist attack. I threw the bicycle to the side, and I ran towards the scene, trying to get as close as I could to the bulldozer so that I could get on it and stop the driver. As I got closer I tried to somehow get a weapon. When the bulldozer stopped, a policeman climbed up, and I climbed up right behind him, screaming at him to shoot."
"Oron Ben-Shimon, with whom I was privileged to cooperate in stopping the terrorist, also climbed up, and he and the policeman tried to stop him with their hands. At first I could not shoot him, because the policeman stood in between us and the terrorist. The terrorist suddenly got up and started to drive again, screaming out Allahu Akbar, and Oron was able to turn the steering wheel so that the bulldozer wouldn't run over more cars. Finally, I was able to grab Oron's gun and shoot over the heads of the policeman and Oron, three bullets to his head. Then a Yassam policeman got on and fired again to ascertain his death."
M can be seen in a blue shirt, outside the bulldozer cabin, in many of the videos of the attack being circulated.
But what I found most interesting about M is something that was reported on Israel Radio on Wednesday, but which I have not seen online anywhere. M was nearly banned from the IDF because he had been arrested as a teenager while protesting the expulsion of Gaza's Jews from their homes. The IDF has rejected many of the teens who were so arrested, or has not permitted them to join combat units. M appealed to the IDF and finally convinced them to take him into the elite unit to which he belongs. Many people hope that as a result of M's actions on Wednesday, other teens who have been banned from elite units by the IDF due to their political activism over Gaza will also be allowed to serve in the units of their choice. Even President Shimon Peres called M a hero on Wednesday.
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 10:31 AM
10 Comments:
Carl - I think if you can do a screen capture of one of the earlier foreign videos, you can get a picture of Moshe. Its strange his name and photo have now been redacted since every one knows who he is already. It may have to do with his service in an elite IDF unit. I should bring to your attention my observation that G-d played a role in yesterday's terrible events. How many times do two people from the same family put down terrorists in similiar situations? That isn't random as you know and if you want to see G-d seeking out people to perform mitzvah, this would be it. They say we're separated from other people by a third degree but Moshe Plesser and David Shapira are even closer than that in both their upbringing and in their deeds. They both come from a national religious family and yeshiva background. Their righteousness tells us with people like them in Israel, for all its problems, the country's future is secure. They absolutely love their fellow Jews at great risk to their own lives and we can see how G-d has already blessed them.
Not just a blue shirt. He wears the whte tzitis under his shirt worn by religious Jews. People think its a jarring contrast with his shooting the terrorist several times. And yet in the Torah, Pinchas is specifically praised for slaying the enemies of G-d and so wins am eternal covenant of priesthood from Him. To stand up to evil is a very praiseworthy thing and this devotion to wiping it out is what G-d demands of the Jew.
"And yet in the Torah, Pinchas is specifically praised for slaying the enemies of G-d and so wins am eternal covenant of priesthood from Him."
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Please do NOT compare the story of Pinchas to putting down a dog of a terrorist.
Pinchas' act is viewed as an extreme response that was nevertheless appropriate at that time but should not be viewed as a norm.
The act of killing a terrorist is an elementary response of self-defense, always appropriate whenever such unfortunate events occur.
Moshe is just as much a hero in any case.
Congrats to the NORMAL CITIZENS of the state of Israel!
To Moshe! To all the unnamed citizens that set up on a daily basis to fight those that would kill us for simply being. Let me state it again for clarity...
to fight those that would kill us for simply BEING
this is not a fight for land, borders, water rights, refugees... it's a fight against the cult of death that calls for and tries to murder us...
Sounds like the original cop should have done the deed. I'm reminded of the Mercaz HaRav carnage where the first police on the scene didn't do anything worthwhile.
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Shy Guy, even the most mundane and unimpressive of human action can be invested with holiness. I do see a spiritual lesson in Moshe's conduct that contrasts with the depravity of the Israeli government's behavior. We are all capable of rising to the heights but G-d asks that we take the first step so to speak before He will help us. I have no doubt thought all the truth of the Hassidic saying "G-d is wherever we let Him in." Moshe let in G-d, like his biblical namesake, before the sight of all Israel. Maybe Pinchas isn't the most obvious instance of a Jew standing up for his people. But you'll find a more fitting parallel in the Torah too. It just so happens a fellow named Moshe, seeing an Egyptian about to murder a Jew, went and struck him down. So how about the Israeli government being filled with the spirit of G-d and the teachings of the Torah? Defending the life of a Jew is not only a mitzvah, it is an example of a holy act that shows a Jew can make a difference in the world. And we all know from the Torah the heights to which the historical Moshe ascended.
8:53 PM
RAM, just what are they teaching the police in Israel?That kind of cowardice is exactly what Chaim Nahman Bialik, Israel's national poet, condemned in his famous poem, "On The City Of Slaughter." The Jews in Odessa may not have been able to do much to keep themselves safe in the face of a pogrom in which howling mobs thirsty for Jewish blood went and slaughtered every Jew they could. There's no excuse for that behavior in Israel. Oh the police can moved courageously to beat up unarmed Jews, if you can call such depraved behavior courageous. But they seem at a total loss to remember how to defend their own people, the Jews from Arab terror. Something clearly is broken in Israel. What we're seeing is the exact opposite of the Zionist ideal. I wonder what Bialik would have to say about it.
I've got a photo here. It's not high-res, but the best I could find. Feel free to use it.
Are they related to these Mac Abbee fellas I heard about way back in the day?
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