Stephen M. Flatow is President-elect of the Religious Zionists of America. He is the father of Alisa Flatow, who was murdered in an Iranian-sponsored Palestinian terrorist attack in 1995 and the author of A Father’s Story: My Fight for Justice Against Iranian Terror.
If there were 680 terrorist attacks in the United States each day, the president would declare a national emergency. The crisis would be the main concern on the mind of every American. It would be the lead story on every television broadcast and in every newspaper throughout the country, and around the world.
So why is it that when Israel suffers an equivalent number of attacks, the international community and news media respond with a collective yawn?
The Israeli organization Hatzalah [Rescuers] Without Borders has just released statistics on Palestinian Arab terrorist attacks against Israelis that took place in the first half of 2023. HWB is in a good position to track these numbers; it has a network of more than 1,600 doctors, media and paramedics who are directly involved in helping the victims.
During the period of January through June 2023, there were 3,640 attacks against Israelis. That’s an average of 20 terrorist attacks every single day.
Israel is a country of 9.7 million people. The United States has approximately 333 million people, that is, about 34 times the size of Israel. So, twenty attacks every day in Israel is the equivalent of more than 680 terrorist attacks in America daily.
Let’s break down those numbers a little further.
In the first six months of 2023, there were 18 stabbings or attempted stabbings of Israel, that is, one every ten days. The American equivalent would be 612 terrorist stabbings, or more than three every day.
Imagine if every single day, Americans woke up to the news that there had been three or more terrorist knife attacks somewhere in their country.
There were 101 Palestinian Arab shooting attacks against Israelis in the first half of 2023—one every other day. In a country the size of the United States that would mean 3,434 attacks in six months, or more than eighteen each day.
Let’s not forget about Palestinian Arab terrorists using what are known as firebombs, or Molotov cocktails. That’s where the terrorist fills a bottle with gasoline, stuffs a rag into it, lights the rag on fire, and throws the flaming bottle at the nearest Jew, in the hope that it will explode and burn the victim alive.
There were 799 such firebomb attacks against Israelis between January and June of 2023, or more than four each day. In America, that’s the equivalent of 27,166 firebomb attacks in six months, or 149 daily.
Think about that. Every single day for six months, Americans would hear that there were 149 attacks around the country in which terrorists tried to burn American citizens alive.
And finally, there were 2,188 rock-throwing attacks against Israelis in the first half of 2023—more than eleven each day. If that happened in a country the size of the U.S., it would mean 72,012 attacks in six months, or 395 daily. Throughout the United States, every single day, there would be 395 politically or racially-motivated attempts to stone innocent citizens to death.
A total of 28 Israelis were murdered and 362 were wounded in the attacks of January-June 2023. The proportional equivalent in the United States would be 952 Americans killed—more than five daily—by terrorists and 12,308 wounded—more than 67 daily.
Every single day, CNN and the New York Times would report that another five Americans had been murdered by terrorists. Every day, MSNBC and the Washington Post would inform the American public that another 67 of their fellow-citizens had been maimed by terrorists, for the “crime” of being American. Every day, for six months. And there would be no end in sight, because after six months, the terrorists would continue murdering and maiming innocent Americans.
For some reason, Israel and its supporters are expected to quietly accept such carnage. Israelis are supposed to meekly resign themselves to this fate—never strike back, never complain, never wonder why the world’s major media outlets are not interested.
Well, I do wonder. I wonder what it will take for world leaders and the international news media to finally recognize that Palestinian Arab terrorism against Israel is nothing less than a war that is being waged against the Jewish state every day, a war that no other country in the world would tolerate if it were the target.