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| From Times of Israel, April 24, 2016 |
Six weeks ago, this local story got a relatively minor degree of attention in the security-obsessed Israeli news market:
Israeli police moved on Sunday to close down the upscale Sarona Market at the center of Tel Aviv over fears that the commercial center was not sufficiently secure, but the site’s management said it would stay open. The popular compound is home to Israel’s largest indoor culinary market. Its 8,700 square meters (93,000 square feet) of market space hosts 91 shops of all varieties. The police asked the Tel Aviv Municipality to revoke Sarona’s business license, arguing that lax security put the visiting public at risk. [“Popular Tel Aviv food market faces closure over lax security“, Times of Israel, April 24, 2016]
Sarona was the scene tonight (Wednesday) of a brazen shooting attack by a pair of Palestinian Arab armed terrorists equipped with guns, suits and ties. As we write this, the death toll is four, three additional victims are said to be in serious condition, and many others have suffered wounds from bullets and shrapnel, as well as trauma. One or both of the gunmen are alive and in Israeli custody.
There should be no doubt at all in anyone’s minds that throughout Palestinian Arab society tonight – in the villages of Judea and Samaria and the Gaza Strip and in the richly appointed suites of the political elite in Ramallah – those shooters of unarmed restaurant patrons are already being hailed as heroes and figures to emulate.
We hope to be able to offer a more serious analysis in the next few hours. Meanwhile our thoughts and prayers are with the injured and with the families of those murdered tonight.
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