Tourism workers contradict ministers' line

Israeli police and journalists gather at the scene of the stabbing attack, March 8, 2016 in Jaffa. Photo by Thomas Coex/AFP/Getty Images

Palestinian Kills U.S. Tourist in Stabbing Spree on Tel Aviv Boardwalk

By Newsweek (Middle East)
March 09, 2016

TEL AVIV – An American tourist was stabbed to death and at least nine other people were wounded by a Palestinian armed with a knife on a popular boardwalk in Tel Aviv on Tuesday, authorities said, while U.S. Vice President Joe Biden was in a meeting a few kilometres (miles) away.

The attack took place in the popular Jaffa port area, which is a favourite spot among tourists. The Magen David Adom ambulance service said four of the wounded had severe injuries.

“A terrorist, an illegal resident who came from somewhere in the Palestinian territories, came here to Jaffa and embarked on a run … along the boardwalk. On his way he indiscriminately stabbed people,” Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai told Army Radio.

He said a police officer eventually caught up with the attacker and shot him dead.

The U.S. State Department strongly condemned the attack and identified the slain American as Taylor Allen Force.

“As we have said many times, there is absolutely no justification for terrorism. We continue to encourage all parties to take affirmative steps to reduce tensions and restore calm,” it said in a statement.

Biden arrived in Israel late on Tuesday for a two-day visit, and was meeting former Israeli President Shimon Peres in Jaffa around the time of the stabbings.

Tuesday also saw three other attacks by Palestinians.

In Jerusalem, a Palestinian opened fire at Israeli police on a crowded street, seriously wounding two officers, before being shot dead, and a 50-year-old Palestinian woman who tried to stab Israeli police officers was also shot and killed.

In the Tel Aviv suburb of Petah Tikva, a Palestinian entered a store and stabbed an Israeli. The wounded man and the store owner together overpowered the attacker and fought him off using the same knife. The attacker died of his wounds, a police spokesman said.

Since October, Palestinian stabbings, shootings and car rammings have killed 28 Israelis and two Americans. Israeli forces have killed at least 177 Palestinians, 119 of whom Israel says were assailants. Most others were shot dead during violent protests.

Death of American Tourist will take its Toll on Tourism

US citizen killed by Palestinian attacker at popular holiday destination

By Robert Swift, The Media Line
March 09, 2016

[Jerusalem] – The death of an American citizen at a coastal tourist spot once again highlighted the violence gripping Israel on a day in which four different attacks occurred across the country. A number of other tourists were injured in the incident, including the victim’s wife, signalling a further blow to Israel’s beleaguered tourism sector which has been struggling for over a year.

The attack took place on the promenade of Jaffa Port, a popular tourist spot to the south of Tel Aviv. The deceased man was identified as Taylor Force, 29, a student at Vanderbilt University’s Owen Graduate School of Management, who was in the country on a tour organized by the school. All other staff and students taking part in the trip are safe, a statement by Vanderbilt University said.

The attack marked the first time since the escalation in violence at the start of October last year that a tourist to Israel had been killed or injured.

According to Force’s LinkedIn profile, he was a former US Army veteran who served as an artillery officer and completed tours of both Iraq and Afghanistan.

Of the ten other people injured, several are reported to be in serious condition. The attacker Bashar Masalha, 21, from Qalqilya in the West Bank, was shot dead by police as he fled the scene.

Emily Young, a producer with i24news based in Jaffa Port, was walking home from work when she got caught up in the aftermath of the attack. “I got there and saw a man lying in a pool of his own blood… he was wearing a backpack, he had a camera, he was very clearly a tourist,” Young told The Media Line. Recalling her Israeli Army training, she carried out first aid and attempted to calm the man, a task made more difficult as he spoke no English or Hebrew.

Young accompanied the man to hospital where she learned that he was a recently-arrived Russian tourist.

Earlier in the day two attacks occurred in Jerusalem. In the first incident a Palestinian woman was reported by police to have attempted to stab officers and was subsequently shot and killed. Later two police officers were injured in a drive-by shooting. Their attacker was also shot and killed.

A fourth incident occurred in Petah Tikva where a 40 year old ultra-Orthodox man was stabbed in the upper body, managed to pull the knife out of his neck and used the weapon to kill his attacker.

Such stories are like a death knell for Israel’s tourism industry, which has been struggling to recover from a drop in visitors since Israel and Hamas’ last war eighteen months ago.

“The tourism industry in Israel faces many challenges and this is another one,” Maoz Inon, one of the owners of the Abraham Hostel chain, told The Media Line. “Tourism has been dropping since the summer 2014… the death of an American tourist is definitely not going to help it,” Inon added.

That being said, Inon did not believe that the incident would make a drastic difference to tourist numbers to Israel, as attacks of this nature happen all around the world. Citing last year’s multiple attacks in Paris, Inon stated, “It’s part of a global phenomenon. It can happen anywhere.”

Alex Hasson, operations manager for Latino and North American incoming tourism at Amiel Tours, told The Media Line that her agents had reported no cancellations of tour groups to Israel as a result of the incident. “Terror has become routine all over the world,” Hasson said, pointing to attacks in Canada and Europe.

Yoav Sharon, Jerusalem manager with International Group Travel, went even further. He told The Media Line that any trepidation tourists might feel was largely the result of exaggerated press reports. “Israel is one of the safest places in the world. I live one mile from the Damascus Gate, my kids and all of their friends go to school by themselves every day. Things happen, the media blows it out of all proportion,” Sharon said, noting that thousands of tourists enter Jerusalem’s Old City without incident each day.

Maoz Inon pointed the finger of blame elsewhere, insinuating that other things hurt Israeli tourism more than incidents like the previous day’s attack. “Sixty years of occupation in the Palestinian Territories. That’s what impacts Israel’s image… It’s much more relevant and dangerous to tourism than these attacks,” the hostel owner said.

But for Emily Young the death of Taylor Force and the injuries sustained by the other tourists represents a watershed.

“Jaffa has always been an example of coexistence in Israel. For a Palestinian man to go on a rampage in a buzzing tourist hotspot that is a mixed Jewish/Arab neighbourhood takes the situation to another level,” she mourned.

Notes and Links

After 130 people were killed by kalashnikov gunfire in Paris last November, Netanyahu said to the cabinet: “We are not at fault for the terrorism turned toward us just as the French are not at fault for the terrorism turned toward them. Those to blame for terrorism are terrorists.”

He added: “In Israel, as in France, terrorism is terrorism, and the force standing behind it is radical Islam and its wish to destroy its victims.”

MFA Wave of terror 2015/16, 14 March 2016

MFA Palestinian incitement and terrorism: Truth and lies, 29 October 2015

MFA What is driving the terror wave?, 17 January 2016