Given the outbreak of jihadist terror attacks on Western soil, Westerners who have been indifferent to the existential threat to Israel from Islamic jihadists are now waking up to Israel’s reality, and it has become a talking point. This excludes hard leftists, for whom no amount of carnage in Israel or on their own home soil will cause them to abandon their political correctness, anti-semitism, or both.

The National Review ran a feature entitled Orlando Aftermath: Welcome to Israel’s Reality, while another article from Canada discussed taking a lesson from Israel in trying to cope with terrorism. The French Prime Minister Manuel Valls, meanwhile, missed the boat, but stated: “We must learn to live with the terror, like Israel”. He should have instead said that France needs to call out Islamic jihadism for what it is and confront it as Israel does. Israel recently passed a wide-reaching terror bill, about which Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked said: “The terrorist attacks in Orlando and Tel Aviv show that, more than ever, terrorism can’t be allowed. There are no excuses.”

Israel’s Constitution, Law and Justice Committee chairman Nissan Slomiansky (Bayit Yehudi) pointed out that the bill cancels 60 British Mandatory emergency statutes, builds on Israel’s experience in fighting terrorism and “shows how to fight terrorism uncompromisingly, while protecting human rights.”

Some called the bill racist against Arabs.

Well, now a mass casualty jihadi attack was prevented in downtown Jerusalem. An Arab Muslim from the West Bank tried to detonate three pipe bombs on the light rail at the Jaffa Center station; his jihad plan was foiled thanks to astute security guards who observed the suspicious-looking man and stopped him. He had a bag loaded with explosives and knives; he was said to be planning to blow up and stab civilians.



“Major terrorist attack prevented in downtown Jerusalem”, by Daniel K. Eisenbud, The Jerusalem Post, July 17, 2016: