US envoy suggests world should rethink PA aid after Israeli teen killed by bomb
Jason Greenblatt demands Abbas condemn ‘savage attack’ that killed Rina Shnerb, fumes that Ramallah uses donor funds to reward Palestinian terrorists
The US on Friday condemned a terrorist bombing that killed a teenage Israeli girl and wounded her father and brother, and a top envoy suggested that the international community should reconsider its aid allocations to the Palestinian Authority in the wake of the attack.
“Another savage attack by Palestinian terrorists kills an Israeli teenager enjoying time with her family. This isn’t the path to peace, just endless suffering,” tweeted US Mideast envoy Jason Greenblatt.
“May her memory be a blessing. Our prayers are with her family especially her father & brother also wounded in the attack,” he said.
Rina Shnerb, 17, of Lod, was critically wounded in the attack and received treatment at the scene from civilian and military medics before being pronounced dead of her injuries. Her father Eitan, a rabbi in Lod, and brother Dvir, 19, were taken by military helicopter to a Jerusalem hospital in serious condition, the Magen David Adom ambulance service said.
US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman also tweeted that he was “heartbroken and outraged by the brutal terrorist attack.”
“No words to describe the sadness of the moment as we grieve and pray for the injured to recover. May they receive God’s blessings,” he wrote.
Heartbroken and outraged by the brutal terrorist attack in Dolev that left a 17 year old girl dead and her father and brother seriously injured. No words to describe the sadness of the moment as we grieve and pray for the injured to recover. May they receive God’s blessings.
— Chargé d’Affaires ad interim Stephanie Hallett (@USAmbIsrael) August 23, 2019
The army said an improvised explosive device was used in the attack. Police sappers determined that the bomb had been planted earlier at the spring and was triggered remotely when the family approached it.
The explosion occurred at the Bubin spring in the West Bank — a popular hiking spot — approximately 10 kilometers east of the city of Modiin.
Greenblatt also slammed the Gaza-based Hamas terror group and called on the international community to rethink its aid to the Palestinian Authority.
“Hamas praised 17yo Rina Shnerb’s murder by Palestinian terrorists. The PA must unequivocally condemn this attack & the recent murder of 18yo Dvir Sorek. If they don’t, donor countries should demand the PA answer for why their donor funds continue to be used to reward attacks,” Greenblatt tweeted.
https://twitter.com/jdgreenblatt45/status/1164894425002237953
The Hamas terror organization on Friday praised the perpetrators of the bombing.
Hamas in a statement said the bomb attack was “proof of the vitality and bravery of the Palestinian people, and of the fact that it will not surrender to the crimes and terrorism of the occupation.”
The group noted that it came on the 50th anniversary of the torching of the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, and said it showed that “our people have not abandoned and will not abandon the Al-Aqsa Mosque even for a day, whoever the victims may be.
No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack, and Israeli officials have yet to indicate who could have been behind the deadly attack.
Greenblatt’s call to reconsider aid referred to the PA policy of paying stipends to the families of dead terrorists and to jailed terrorists. Israel and the US say the move incentivizes more attacks.
In recent years, the US has cut almost all of its assistance to the Palestinians.
Rina Shnerb was buried later Friday in her home town of Lod.
A hospital spokesperson said the father was now considered to be in moderate, stable condition. The 19-year-old son sustained injuries throughout his body, including to his stomach, from the blast. He was unconscious and connected to a respirator.
The Times of Israel Community.