Two German tourists were visiting Israel recently, where they experienced something Israelis have experienced in the past when they have taken a wrong turn in the West Bank and ended up in the middle of a Palestinian city: an Arab mob quickly forming, intent on pulling them out of their car, in order to beat them, if not to death, at least close to it. A preliminary Jihad Watch report is here, and more on their dangerous reception in Nablus, and their narrow escape back to Israel, can be found here: “German tourists visiting Israel attacked by Palestinians in Nablus,” Jerusalem Post, March 18, 2023:
German tourists visiting Israel were lightly injured on Saturday when they were attacked by Nablus residents for entering the Palestinian city with an Israeli vehicle registration plate.
Photos and videos taken at the scene show the tourists were driving in a Tel Aviv share car that featured an Israeli flag on its rear end.
It was the Israeli license plate that caught the attention of the crowd of Nabulsi layabouts. Surely these were Israelis, they assumed, even though a moment’s inspection of the car doors would have made clear it was a rented Ride-Share Car (belonging to a company called “Shlomo Sixt”), and both driver and passenger were most unlikely to be Israelis who, after all, have their own cars and don’t need to rent one.
The Palestinians surrounded the car, continually kicking at both the body of the car and its windows, with some using rocks to smash in the windows. They were not just doing as much damage as they could to the car, but clearly wanted to get to the people inside and harm them. Had they managed to drag the German tourists out, no doubt they would have been beaten senseless, to the great delight of the assembled crowd. An Israeli Arab who happened to be nearby intervened, and with his help the two tourists managed to drive a short distance away, followed by the crowd running after them. But before the Palestinian mob caught up with them, they managed to get out of the car, and run to the safety of Jewish security services, who took them to an Israeli hospital, where they were given medical treatment for their injuries and released..
German Ambassador to Israel Steffan Seibert condemned the attack on the two German tourists, stating that “a mob attacking tourists because they don‘t like their license plate is disgusting and cowardly.”
The Ambassador should have said, more accurately, that “a mob attacking someone because they think that person is Jewish” is “disgusting and cowardly.”
I wonder what those German tourists now think of the Palestinians. Since they had driven knowingly into Nablus in order, as they later plaintively explained, to “get a cup of coffee.” I assume they were favorably inclined to the Palestinians, and wanted to see for themselves how they fared under the “occupation.” What a surprise that violent reaction must have been to the two visitors. Perhaps it opened their eyes to the extreme Palestinian violence that Israelis so often endure. It was just outside Nablus a few weeks ago that two Israeli brothers, Yigal and Hillel Yaniv, were shot dead for the crime of driving-while-Israeli. I am sure the German tourists didn’t return to Nablus; nor would they, after that frightening experience, have driven into Jenin or Ramallah. They have had their fill of the “oppressed” Palestinians..
Perhaps now is the time for the Israeli Tourist Bureau to remind visitors to the country what can happen when you drive into a Palestinian city, and are either known to be, or are taken to be, an Israeli. The most horrible such incident took place in 2000, when two Israeli reservists, Vadim Nurzhitz and Yosef “Yossi” Avraham, on their way to an army base, had taken a wrong turn and accidentally entered the Palestinian Authority-controlled city of Ramallah in the West Bank. They were taken into custody by Palestinian Authority policemen, who brought them to the police station at el-Bireh, a twin city to Ramallah. Rumors quickly spread that Israeli undercover agents were in the building, and an angry crowd of more than 1,000 Palestinians gathered in front of the station calling for the death of the Israelis. Dozens rushed into the building, pushing guards aside, and ran up to the second floor where the two Israelis were being held.
The Israeli reservists were then beaten, choked, and stabbed. At this point, a Palestinian (later identified as Aziz Salha), appeared at the window of the police station, displaying his blood-soaked hands to the crowd, which erupted into cheers. The crowd clapped and cheered as one of the soldier’s bodies was then thrown out the window and stamped and beaten by the frenzied crowd. One of the two was shot and set on fire, and his head was beaten to a pulp. Soon after, the crowd dragged the two mutilated bodies to Al-Manara Square in the city center and began an impromptu victory celebration. Police officers tried to confiscate footage from reporters.
British photographer Mark Seager attempted to photograph the event, but the mob physically assaulted him and destroyed his camera. After the event, he stated, “It [the lynching] was the most horrible thing that I have ever seen, and I have reported from Congo, Kosovo, many bad places…. I know they [Palestinians] are not all like this and I’m a very forgiving person, but I’ll never forget this. It was murder of the most barbaric kind. When I think about it, I see that man’s head, all smashed. I know that I’ll have nightmares for the rest of my life.”
The German tourists must thank their lucky stars that they got away in time. Who knows what might have happened, had that Israeli Arab not helped them to find Israeli security men who brought them to safety? And if you need a cup of coffee, tourists, it makes more sense to try a café in Jerusalem or Tel Aviv or Haifa, rather than risk the unknown in Ramallah, or Nablus, or Jenin.
Keith O says
Reminds me of the T-shirts we could get back in the 80s, had written in three languages. English, French and Arabic, “I AM NOT AN AMERICAN”.
Maybe now T-shirts and car stickers saying “I AM NOT A JEW”. will become necessary in the middle east?
What I have noticed over the years is that we never see barbaric, incensed mobs from within other religious communities, only from within islam, no matter what country it is that they have infested.
OLD GUY says
Yes the migration invasion of islam is well and healthy and spreading around the world, because we allow it.
dazzleme says
OLD GUY -Yep, you got that right!
wendy says
I see similarities between this horrific attack and what goes on in the US due to the manufactured race war of the Biden regime. Imagine a white person driving into certain areas of Chicago, LA or NY. Maybe thousands wouldn’t attack, but certainly a large group would rob and attack. Getting out alive could prove very difficult. We see these large cowardly group attacks almost daily in the US.
dazzleme says
Wendy – you are so right, I would be really scared to get off in the wrong part of those cities. Thank you Beijing Biden for all you do for Americans, which is nothing but make the situation even worse!