Fallout

The investigation into how the terrorists managed to infiltrate the Yeshiva Merkaz Harav yesterday and murdered eight students continues. Thus far, the investigation has revealed that the terrorist was a driver for the school. The terrorist's family and neighbors are immensely proud of this heinous act.

"We are proud and happy, and everyone in Jabel Mukaber is proud of him," said a cousin, who identified herself as Umm Fadi.

They take pride in racking up a body count of Israelis. And Hamas flags were draped outside the house. They're also claiming responsibility for the attack (which thus far has been claimed by pretty much every terrorist group operating against Israel).

This is with whom the diplomats think peace can be achieved? All these terrorist groups do is seek Israel's destruction, and yet the diplomats think that Fatah is the moderate one of the bunch? They have no problem providing cover for the other terrorists so long as the money keeps flowing. But they do not carry out their own obligations to secure the territories and stop inciting Palestinians to violence against Israel.

Meanwhile, the UN continues to do what it always does - nothing. The UN Security Council met last night to pass a resolution condemning the terrorist attack, but Libya blocked the measure because it wanted to include a statement condemning Israel's actions to defend itself from terrorists in Gaza. Of course, that's not how Libya phrased it. The Libyans wanted to condemn Israel for attacking Gaza.

Amnesty International condemned the attack, but urged Israel to refrain from going on the offensive. Right. They want Israel to sit back and absorb terrorist attack after attack; such mindsets enable terrorists and restraint only emboldens terrorists to continue attacking.

For now, the Israelis have sealed the territories, which means it will be a matter of time before AI or the other human rights groups will complain about the checkpoints and restraint on Palestinian movement in the territories.

Israelis came out by the thousands to mourn and lay to rest the students from the yeshiva. Those killed ranged in age from 16 to 26. Those at the Yeshiva did not have kind words for the Olmert government either.

The scene outside the yeshiva was furious and passionate, with at least 50 ambulances and as many police cars, and angry students and local residents lined up behind police tapes, chanting, “Death to Arabs,” “Olmert — you are to blame” and “Who gave them weapons?”

Rabbi David Shalem, 43, the director of the Institute of Talmud Studies at the yeshiva, where he has spent the last 22 years, tried to wipe his tears away. “Tomorrow instead of religious lectures there will be funerals,” he said, then shouted: “Let the government go to hell! Write that down. Let the government go to hell!”

Asked what the government should do, Rabbi Nachum Levy, 60, said, “I would like to see Olmert go with a strong hand.” Where? “Everywhere, in Gaza and the north and inside,” he said, “and not dismantle settlements.”

The Olmert government thinks that the images of bloody talism (Jewish prayer shawls) and bibles should be spread around the world to show the intent of the terrorist group Hamas - linking the attack in Jerusalem to the rocket war in the South. That's fine for what it is, but the problem is that Olmert once again doesn't go far enough.

Fatah and all the other terrorist groups and their proxies are just as intent on Israel's destruction as Hamas. It is time for Israel to break off all talks with Fatah (after all, the al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade claimed responsibility for the attack yesterday - and it's a wholly owned subsidiary of Fatah).

UPDATE:
The Israelis have razed the home of the terrorist. Expect the outcry from the usual suspects over such limited acts.

UPDATE:
The Bush Administration loses big points once again for pushing negotiation with terrorists over killing terrorists. They're trying to get everyone behind the Egyptian efforts to get everyone back to the negotiating table.

It's a fool's errand. Negotiations by their very purpose, favor the terrorists over a nation struggling to defend itself from genocidal thugs hellbent on inflicting as much carnage on Israel as possible.

UPDATE:
Aussie Dave has more on the aftermath of the yeshiva attack. Meanwhile, Meryl Yourish catches Reuters in another lie. Hamas wants a ceasefire on its own terms, and it basically requires Israel to sit back and take further attacks, in the West Bank and Gaza, or else Hamas will resume its attacks on Israel (which never stopped).

UPDATE:
Israel continues to bury its dead. One of those murdered was Avraham David Moses, 16, whose parents moved from New York to Gush Etzion, which I had visited when in Israel back in 1993.

One victim, Avraham David Moses, 16, whose parents had moved to Israel from the United States, was buried in a quiet, restrained ceremony attended by several hundred people in Gush Etzion, a settlement in the West Bank.

Shaded by trees, the mourners carried the body up to the grave on a stretcher covered in a black and white prayer shawl. The victim’s young siblings gathered around the grave and helped throw soil onto the body.

“He was a really good kid,” said his stepmother, Leha Moses, who grew up in New Jersey and who said she had lived in Israel for 12 years. “He was just an incredible blessing,” she said.

Members of the family said the boy’s mother, Rivka Moriah, was originally from New England and his father, Naftali Moses, was from Long Island, and both had moved to Israel several years ago. Both had subsequently remarried.

Meanwhile, Abbas continues to play games, and the US continues to push for talks.

Hamas is now backing away from its prior claims of responsibility. Maybe they know that claiming responsibility might bring down the weight of the IDF on the heads of the terror masters. Israel should do so in any event. The terrorists continue plotting, even if they weren't responsible for this heinous terrorist attack.

UPDATE:
The Israeli Consulate in New York sent out an email today about the yeshiva massacre, and noted the similarities between the Palestinians celebrating the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the Palestinians celebrating the yeshiva massacre. To wit, Palestinians celebrating the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States:


The Palestinians celebrating the yeshiva massacre:

Yesterday evening at about 8:45 P.M. Jerusalem time, a Hamas terrorist armed with an automatic rifle, handguns, a knife, and extra ammunition shot his way into Yeshivat Merkaz Harav, one of the world's most preeminent schools for Jewish education, and wantonly murdered, in the most barbaric way, 8 young Jewish students studying the Torah (Old Testament). Seven of the eight students heinously murdered in yesterday's massacre were under the age of 18. This cowardly and deliberate attack on Israeli children, in what should be the safest of places, serves to highlight the barbarity, cruelty, and inhumanity of Israel's enemies.

The world should take swift and concrete action to unequivocally condemn this massacre, but alas, the UN Security Council once again could not bring itself to speak out against terror inflicted on the Jewish people and the Jewish State.

Although the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned yesterdays attack, this is a declaration expected from any decent human being, and should be followed by action to reign in the terrorists who act on a daily basis to kill Jewish citizens of Israel. Israel is committed to the peace process, but can only make peace with people who are also committed to peace in more than words.

Israel will not have peace because the Palestinians are not interested in peace; they're interested in Israelis in pieces.

UPDATE:
Here are the names of the Jewish boys murdered by the Palestinian terrorist:

Yohai Livshitz, 18, from Jerusalem; Yonatan Yitzhak Eldar, 16, from Shilo; Yonadav Haim Hirschfeld, 19, from Kohav Hashahar; and Neria Cohen, 15, also from the capital, Segev Peniel Avihail, 15, from Neve Daniel, Avraham David Moses, 16, from Efrat, Roee Roth, 18, from Elkana and Doron Meherete, 26, from Ashdod.

UPDATE:
Dry Bones has more on the Palestinian celebrations, and provides the video of the sweets being passed out by the Palestinians to celebrate the murder of the eight Jewish students.