No motive

It was a clever plan. A 17-year-old carpentry-apprentice waited patiently until the target client purchased furniture from his employer, who in return tasked the young man in particular with delivering the furniture to the target’s rented apartment. Just when he made sure that no one was around, except for the landlord of course, the master-mind behind the plot charged and stabbed the victim with a screw-driver-turned-into-a-weapon. The victim quickly reached for his gun and fired a round of shots in the air that killed both the young attacker, and the innocent bystander (landlord). The failed attempt was politically motivated, as intelligently clarified by the law enforcement authorities of the screw driver victim’s country. Yes, the 17-year-old planned all of this to get out an important political message. No one shall be safe…furniture shops will serve as a breeding ground for young political criminal wannabes.  

The whole incident, sarcasm-free, occurred a week earlier when an Israeli embassy security guard shot dead a 17-year-old Jordanian man and the landlord who was at the wrong place at the wrong time. Allegedly, the young man was delivering furniture to the Israeli man, when they both quarrelled and the former attacked the latter with a screwdriver. To defend himself, the Israeli security guard reached out for his gun (like a sensible person would do), and with little regard to human life, killed both the young boy and the landlord who was standing there.

The tragedy of the entire episode, besides the unnecessary and unjustified death of two Jordanians, is the casual reaction of the Israeli government to the crime. To add insult to injury, Israeli officials have suggested that the incident was political (in response to the riots in Jerusalem following Tel Aviv’s wise decision to place metal detectors at Al Aqsa Mosque’s site).

By insisting on diplomatic immunity that protects the guard from questioning and prosecution, and by fabricating events and insisting on the ‘political motive’, Israel masked the regular excessive, brutal, unjustifiable, and non-discriminatory act with the typical self-defence rhetoric.

Any incident, any place and any time is meant to directly harm the innocent and defenceless (but gun bearing) Israeli civil servants – that is the common perception marketed by the masters of the victimisation theory. Had Tel Aviv had a little bit of tact, they would have at least given themselves some time to investigate the elements behind the incident and then blame it on political agendas.

It could have been a regular, old fashion argument between a client and an employee. It could have been an act of rage by a young young boy, which could have been handled more compassionately and wisely by an older and more sensible man. It could have been so many things, but death should not have been one of them.

God rest the souls of the two innocent victims.