An Israeli civilian was stabbed to death in her own home on Sunday after a terrorist broke in, according to IDF spokesman Lt. Col. Peter Lerner’s Twitter feed. “This is a horrific tragedy, and I am with you with all of my heart. This is shocking and terrible,” said Israeli President Reuven Rivlin in comments released by his office.
The IDF Spokesperson Twitter page said the victim, Dafna Meir, was killed “while her children were present.” The assailant is a Palestinian, according to Israeli Police Spokesman Micky Rosenfeld. Speaking on Twitter, Rosenfeld said police forensics were reviewing the scene of the crime.
Rosenfeld said the terrorist initially escaped and security forces were searching for the assailant. Har Hevron Regional Council head Yochai Damari, in comments with Rivlin released in the press release, said, “I have faith and trust that the security services will find the terrorist sooner or later, and that they are doing everything possible in order to return a sense of security to the community as swiftly as possible.”
Earlier that day, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu slammed the double-standard applied to Israel in facing terrorism by Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallström.
“You will recall that the Swedish Foreign Minister said that the actions of the security forces in Israel, as well as those of citizens, in preventing their being murdered by people with knives are executions and must be investigated in accordance with international law,” said Netanyahu. “I would like to ask her if what occurred in Sweden last October in which a man with, not a knife, but a long sword, killed three people and was killed by Swedish forces, if she proposes that this incident also be investigated in accordance with international law as an execution?”
The Israeli leader said of the Swedish diplomat’s comments, “There is an absurdity and a total distortion here and that we attack this and reject it outright.
Said Netanyahu, “The double standard, distortion, attacks and bias against Israel will not help the [European Union] in being a partner in discussions on the Middle East, but even more so, this is simply inappropriate and unjust and we will not accept it.”
(By Joshua Spurlock, www.themideastupdate.com, January 17, 2016)