American Columnist at Scene of Tel Aviv Attack Recounts Details

TEL AVIV – An American columnist who was less than a block from the shooting that took place on Friday in Tel Aviv recounted his ordeal and concludes that Palestinian depravity will prevent peace.

Writing in the Algemeiner,  Joel Mowbray recounts how people in the café he was sitting at – a few doors down from the scene of the shooting – dived to the floor and covered their loved ones. Infants and toddlers were trembling as their mothers held them and young men scrambled over to help those huddled on the floor.

Another patron at the café said it was not the first time she had been close to an attack and with each act of terror her fear was compounded by the surge of memories from previous experiences.

Mowbray writes how the experience led him to wonder about the Israeli attitude toward Palestinians. He claims that his American sensibilities are shocked that there is not more “overt hatred” on the part of Israelis.

“As an American in the immediate aftermath, one thought that I keep coming back to again and again is how amazing it is that Israelis don’t hate Palestinians.”

Mowbray continues, “It’s not that a majority of Palestinians are lining up to commit terrorist attacks; it’s that the overwhelming majority of Palestinians support those who do. And almost every Israeli knows this.

“So the fear in the eyes of those little children is something that most Palestinians celebrate. And yet, my fellow Jews who live under constant threat of Palestinian terrorism do not burn with murderous rage.”

Mowbray highlights the core difference between Israelis and Palestinians: When an Israeli commits an evil act he is spurned by all Israelis, his actions loudly condemned both on the street and in court; but a Palestinian terrorist is treated as a national hero, with streets and stadiums named after him and money thrown at his family.

Mowbray concludes, “Any society that can celebrate death and destruction, feeling unmitigated joy at the terror that I witnessed first-hand is clearly depraved. That depravity, sadly, is why we will not experience peace anytime soon.”