The site of the vehicular attack at a bus stop near the community of Kokhav Ya'akov, in the Benyamin region (QudsN, January 25, 2017).
The site of the vehicular attack at a bus stop near the community of Kokhav Ya'akov, in the Benyamin region (QudsN, January 25, 2017).
The Eliahu Crossing near Alfei Menashe (Arabs24 website, September 21, 2016).
Notice posted by Muhammad al-Rajabi for his close friend Izz al-Din al-Husseini Abu Shkhaydam, killed while carrying out a stabbing attack (Facebook page of Muhammad al-Rajabi, October 29, 2015).
1. On January 25, 2017, a Palestinian terrorist carried out a vehicular attack at a bus stop near the community of Kokhav Ya'akov (in the Benyamin region, east of Ramallah). He drove to the site, swerved out of his lane and rammed into the bus stop, where civilians and Israeli soldiers were standing. He held a knife but did not exit the vehicle. There were no casualties. The terrorist was shot and killed by IDF forces (see Appendix B). He was Hussein Salem Abu Ghosh, a cousin of Hussein Muhammad Abu Ghosh, the Palestinian terrorist who infiltrated the community of Beit Horon and carried out a stabbing attack exactly one year earlier(January 25, 2016).
2. Hussein Salem Abu Ghosh, 18, from the Qalandia refugee camp, was the oldest of seven children. He worked in a store that sold smartphone accessories. His father said his son had been very close to Hussein Muhammad Abu Ghosh, his cousin and friend from childhood, who had been killed the previous year and whose death had greatly influenced him(al-Quds, January 27, 2017). His aunt, Khadija Abu Ghosh, said Hussein repeatedly told his mother he was "tired of this world and wanted to go somewhere else…" (QudsN website, January 29, 2017). The deaths of the two cousins were widely covered on the social networks. There were many posts noting that the two had been killed while carrying out attacks on the same date exactly a year apart (see Appendix A).
Revenge for Friends and Relatives as a Motive for Terrorist Attacks
Left: Hussein Muhammad Abu Ghosh, masked, during a clash with Israeli security forces (Facebook page of the Qalandia refugee camp, January 26, 2016). Right: Hussein Muhammad Abu Ghosh, who was killed while carrying out a stabbing attack after having infiltrated the community of Beit Horon (Facebook page of Kalandia Camp Soldiers, January 26, 2016).
3. Terrorist attacks carried out to avenge a friend or relative who was killed are familiar from the wave of Palestinian popular terrorism. In some instances attacks have been carried out at the same site chosen by terrorists who were killed, and sometimes even using the same method. For example, in a series of terrorist attacks carried out in September 2016 (eight attacks in ten days), prominent among the terrorists were friends and relatives of terrorists who had carried out attacks during the wave of popular terrorism which began in October 2015:[1]
A. On September 21, 2016, a 12 year-old Palestinian girl carrying a bag went to the Eliahu Crossing near Alfei Menashe (southeast of Qalqilya). When she tried to walk through the car lane she was ordered to halt but did not obey. The guards shot and wounded her in the leg. During her initial interrogation she said she had "come to die." She was Baraa' al-Awissi, a relative of Risha al-Awissi, the Palestinian woman who carried out a stabbing attack at the same location. No weapon was found in her possession and she was released.
Left: Risha al-Awissi, related to Baraa' al-Awissi, who was killed while carrying out a stabbing attack at the Eliahu Crossing (Amin blog, November 10, 2016). Right: Baraa' al-Awissi, who went to the Eliahu Crossing with the intention of dying (YouTube, September 26, 2016).
B. On September 20, 2016, Issa Tarayrah, from the village of Bani Na'im (near Hebron), tried to stab soldiers at the roadblock at the entrance to the village. He was shot and killed. A relative named Muhammad Nasr Tarayrah, 19, also from Bani Na'im, stabbed to death a 13 year-old girl named Hallel Ariel while she sleptin her bed in her home in Kiryat Arba (June 30, 2016). He was shot and killed during the attack. An examination of his Facebook page indicates he was influenced by the death of Majd al-Khudour, from Bani Na'im, who carried out a vehicular attack at the entrance to Kiryat Arba on June 24, 2016. He was also influenced by the death of his cousin Yusuf Walid Tarayrah, who was killed on March 14, 2016, while carrying out a vehicular attack at the entrance to Kiryat Arba. Five days before the attack Muhammad Tarayrah wrote on his Facebook page, "Death is a right, and I demand my right."
C. On the afternoon of September 16, 2016, a Palestinian terrorist armed with a knife went to an IDF post near Tel Romeida in Hebron and stabbed an IDF soldier in the face. The terrorist was shot and killed. He was Mohammed Kayid Talaji al-Rajabi, a high school student from Hebron. According to a friend he was greatly saddened by the death of Izz al-Din al-Husseini Abu Shkhaydam, a close friend from Hebron. Izz Abu Shkhaydam was killed when he and another Palestinian terrorist carried out a stabbing attack at the Gush Etzion Junction on October 27, 2015. Muhammad al-Rajabi posted two notices to this Facebook page. He was also in contact with the father of MalikTalal Muhammad al-Sharif, 25, from Hebron, who attempted a stabbing attack at the Gush Etzion Junction on November 5, 2015, and was killed (the two were apparently related, but exactly how is not clear).
D. On September 16, 2016, a vehicle driven by a Palestinian with a woman passenger drove at high speed towards a bus stop at the Elias Junction at the entrance to Kiryat Arba. At the time three Israeli youths were waiting at the stop. An IDF force at the site shot at the car, killing the driver and wounding the passenger. Two of the Israelis were injured. The Palestinian media reported that the man and woman were Firas Musa al-Khudour and Raghad Abdallah al-Khudour, a relative from the village of Bani Na'im. Raghad's sister was Palestinian terrorist Majed Abdallah al-Khudour, 18, married and mother of one, who carried out a vehicular attack at the same location on June 24, 2016, and was killed by an IDF force. Relatives reported that the lives of Firas and Raghad al-Khudour changed after Majd al-Khudour's death and that Firas became more religious (Nablus TV channel, September 17, 2017).
Right: Facebook page of Raghad al-Khudour, who participated in the terrorist attack, posted on June 26, 2016, two days after her sister was killed. Raghad al-Khudour glorifies her, calling her "my sister the heroine" (Facebook page of Bani Na'im News, September 16, 2016) Left: The vehicle used in the attack at the entrance to Kiryat Arba (Facebook page of the Hamas movement in the Hebron district, September 16, 2016).
[1]For further information, see the September 29, 2016 bulletin, "The phenomenon of kinship among Palestinians carrying out popular terrorist attacks."
