[Order Michael Finch’s new book, A Time to Stand: HERE. Prof. Jason Hill calls it “an aesthetic and political tour de force.”]
The manic focus on the IDF’s war in Gaza, and the denunciation of the Jewish state by much of the world for its putative “war crimes” and “genocide” in the Strip may have just been temporarily halted, as the latest terror attack in Jerusalem reminds the giddy globe of why Israel fights. More on the jihad attack can be found here and here: “Six killed, 6 seriously injured in Jerusalem as terrorists open fire on bus, pedestrians,” by Emanuel Fabian, Charlie Summers, Jeremy Sharon and Nava Freiberg, Times of Israel, September 8, 2025:
Six people were murdered Monday and 12 were wounded, six of them seriously, when a pair of Palestinian terrorists opened fire on vehicles and pedestrians in Jerusalem’s Ramot Junction.
The two gunmen, residents of the West Bank, arrived at the junction shortly after 10 a.m. — according to some reports, by car — and opened fire at people waiting at a bus stop as well at a bus that had just stopped there.
Police said that a soldier and a number of civilians who were present at the scene fired at the terrorists and killed them.
The military said the soldier was an off-duty squad commander in the military’s new Hasmonean Brigade, a unit for ultra-Orthodox troops. Magen David Adom said four of the victims were declared dead at the scene, while two others were rushed to hospital and later succumbed to their wounds.
At least six others were listed in serious condition, as well as two whose status was moderate and three who were lightly hurt, according to MDA.
The dead were named as Levi Yitzhak Pash, 57, Yaakov Pinto, 25, Yisrael Matzner, 28, and Rabbi Yosef David, 43, Rabbi Mordechai Steintzag, 79, and Sarah Mendelson, 60.
The two terrorists were identified by the Shin Bet security agency as Mohammad Taha, 21, from Qatanna, and Muthanna Amro, 20, from Qubeiba. Neither had prior arrests, according to the Shin Bet.
“Why they fight” — why the Israelis fight — has just been brought, again, to our collective attention. The IDF is fighting in Gaza, Judea, and Samaria against Hamas and other groups to make sure that such atrocities as this terror attack on Israelis at the bus stop in Jerusalem become less likely. Will the world’s leaders send their condolences? Will they recognize what it must be like to live in Israel, the very small state forced to fight a multi-front war against the terrorists who would, if they could, destroy that state and expel or kill all of its Jewish citizens?