Eden Atias
Last Wednesday, a newly enlisted 18-year-old Israeli soldier was stabbed repeatedly in the throat as he napped on a bus.
The bus had just made a stopover at the Afula station in Israel. Most of the passengers had left the bus to stretch their legs when Eden Atias was murdered by a Palestinian youth.
Passengers on the bus managed to stop the 16-year-old terrorist, but Atias died of his wounds not long afterward.
The Palestinian youth has been identified as Hussein Ghawadra from Jenin, which is in Judea-Samaria. Ghawadra was in Israel illegally and had just been declined for a job with an Israeli firm.
“There’s no work in Jenin,” he said. “I looked for work in different places. In Nazareth, in Umm Al-Fahm. I thought about trying in Haifa. Everyone is afraid to hire a person without a permit. They’re afraid of the police.” (Arutz Sheva)
He claimed he was avenging his family, since two of his relatives are imprisoned for two counts of murder and several counts of attempted murder. (YNet)
Meanwhile, this Monday, just days after Atias was buried, the Palestinian Authority confirmed that it has been providing grants to the security prisoners that Israel released in August and October as part of the peace talk deal.
According to the Office of the IDF Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, grants of up to $50,000 were issued for each prisoner.
The released prisoners, many convicted of murdering Israeli civilians, are also being rewarded with the status of a deputy minister or the rank of a PA security forces major-general. Each of these positions provide a monthly stipend of NIS 14,000 (approximately US $4,000). (JPost)
“When Palestinian teenagers are exposed to the honors showered on terrorists who were released in a deal with Israel and learn about the financial grants and monthly stipend they receive—which are about four times the average wages in the PA—there is no wonder that more and more of them turn to terror activity, thinking it is a better alternative to improve their families’ social status and financial situation,” a senior defense official said. (Israel HaYom)
