A new campaign is calling on Israelis to shoot to kill if they encounter Palestinian Authority Arabs throwing deadly rocks at drivers. Rocks were proven once again last week to be a lethal weapon when hurled at a driver.
The grassroots group behind the campaign, SOS-Israel, claims similar words were said in the past by none other than Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.
The group began its campaign over the Sabbath, just hours after rock throwing terrorists succeeded in murdering a young father and son near Kiryat Arba. The campaign used publications distributed in Judea and Samaria synagogues to urge the population to meet attacks with deadly force.
Included in the ads was a statement made by Netanyahu in 1989, as he returned to Israel following a term as Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, at a time when rock throwing, with sometimes tragic results, was rampant.
The statement attributed to Netanyahu at the time, quoted in the headline of the daily Maariv. is: “Shoot rock-throwers to kill.”
While Netanyahu no longer expresses support for that response, perhaps due to his position, some feel it would stop stone throwers. It might also mean a prison term for Jews who shoot and some say it could lead Arabs to start large scale violence, which others say would start anyway if that is their plan.
“We are continuing Netanyahu’s true legacy,” SOS-Israel activists said Tuesday.
The IDF cannot be everywhere and residents of Judea and Samaria are faced with a new wave of rock throwing terrorists who, if allowed to get away with impunity, may go on to threaten more lives.
SOS-Israel head Rabbi Shalom Dov Wolpe feels strongly that firing on attackers will improve security. He noted the precept stated by Jewish sages of the Talmud, “When a person comes to kill you – rise early and kill them first.”
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