Israel’s UN Ambassador Danon addressing the United Nations Security Council in New York, with Oran Almog sitting behind him
On July 21st, Friday night, the Salomon family of Halamish was celebrating over Shabbat dinner the birth of their grandchild. As the family was gathered at home, a knock was heard on the front door. Thinking it was a well-wisher, Haya Salomon, a 46 year-old teacher, answered - only to confront not a guest but a murderer. She was stabbed multiple times, and as she fell to the ground, she used her last breath to cry out for help. From there, the heinous terrorist went on to stab and kill Haya’s brother, 35 year-old Elad and their father, 70 year-old Yosef. He continued to injure the grandmother, 68 year-old Tova Salomon, until a shot from the outside by an IDF soldier on leave injured him and prevented him from reaching Elad’s wife and their 5 small children. They were besieged in the bedroom upstairs as these 14 minutes of horror - which lasted en eternity - took place downstairs. Haya did not survive the massacre.
Today, July 25, only a few days after this gruesome and inhumane act, I sat and listened to - first hand - the United Nations Security Council’s Discussion about the Middle East. It was there that Palestinian Observer to the UN took to the stage and condemned Israel repeatedly while upholding the “innocence” of his people. He condemned Israel with harsh words, yet he did not find it in his heart to condemn nor even mention a Jewish family’s slaughter at their home, in front of their children. Neither mercy nor compassion were shown.
The Palestinian Authority has engaged for years in a campaign of glorification of terrorists, of naming schools and public squares after murderers of innocents. Rampant incitement against Israel and Jews takes place on Palestinian media: TV outlets, newspapers, radio stations and social media are filled with hatred and anti-Semitism, not to mention an expressed desire to kill Jews. The crown jewel of this industry of incitement is without doubt the extensive payments of salaries made out to terrorists who are imprisoned in Israel for their crimes, and to their families. This “pay for slay” has only increased over the years unhindered and so, the perpetrator of the Halamish Massacre, among many others, will be rewarded his share for his “noble” deed. Such is reality in the twilight zone of morality.
Yet, today the Palestinian Observer’s hateful comments did not meet silence on the Israeli side. Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, stood strong in denouncing incitement and Palestinian culture of terror while crying out for the slain Israelis. But he was not alone. Together with him was Oran Almog, himself a survivor of a vicious terrorist attack. On a sunny Saturday afternoon on October 4, 2003, a young Palestinian woman came into Arab-Israeli Maxim restaurant in Haifa. She seemed to be pregnant, only she was not carrying a baby. She was strapped with explosives and her suicide bomb attack claimed 21 lives and injured many more, including members of Oran’s family, who was still a child at the time. Oran made it out alive, albeit severely injured and still suffers from his injuries to this very day. However, it is Oran’s desire for life, his tenacity to build where destruction once was, that overcame all obstacles and allowed him to face the cameras today, alongside Ambassador Danon. As he bravely stood in the limelight, his words of pain and resilience resonated to the distance, and his message clear: Palestinian culture of incitement and hatred can go on NO MORE. The international community must act NOW and put an end to payment of salaries to terrorists. Must put an end to the incitement which poisons every man, woman and child on the Palestinian side. Incitement comes at a cost - it leads to death and hurt. It shatters hopes for peace.
“Anyone who believes in the value of human life”, Oran said, “should act against these payments”.
And his words echoed in the barren Halls of the UN Security Council, filled with Ambassadors and diplomats.