bloggie

This isn't the new Hamas government, but the "more moderate" outgoing Fatah gov't. As the PMW report this came from says:

Societies measure their heroes in different ways. Some societies honor athletes or performers. Others celebrate caregivers and humanitarian workers. The Palestinians, on the other hand, have consistently chosen to honor murderers as their national icons.

And what a "hero" this guy is:

Smadar Haran, wife and mother of the murder victims, described the murder in the Washington Post in 2003:

"It was a murder of unimaginable cruelty… It had been a peaceful Sabbath day. My husband, Danny, and I had picnicked with our little girls, Einat, 4, and Yael, 2, on the beach. Around midnight … the terrorists burst into our building. Danny helped our neighbor climb into a crawl space above our bedroom; I went in behind her with Yael in my arms. Danny grabbed Einat and was dashing out the front door when the terrorists came crashing into our flat. They held Danny and Einat … I will never forget the joy and the hatred in the terrorists voices as they swaggered about hunting for us, firing their guns and throwing grenades. … As I lay there, I remembered my mother telling me how she had hidden from the Nazis during the Holocaust. "This is just like what happened to my mother," I thought. .. The terrorists took Danny and Einat down to the beach. There, according to eyewitnesses, one of them shot Danny in front of Einat so that his death would be the last sight she would ever see. Then he smashed my little girl's skull in against a rock with his rifle butt. That terrorist was Samir Quntar."
[Smadar Haran Kaiser, Washington Post, May 18, 2003]

Oh my. There aren't any words to describe what I feel about this. I remember watching a movie where Jews were living in an apartment and they were raided one day. One of the husbands put his family and neighbors into a shelter of sorts but his wife forgot the baby's pacifier. He went back to their apartment to get it but their older daughter followed him and the mom wasn't able to call her back. The dad saw her eventually looking for him and tried to hide her behind a wall once they were found by the terrorists. He was shot and the shooter went around the wall, shook while he looked at the little girl and then fired his gun. The movie showed the mom hearing 2 shots and she fell apart. I will always remember it.

And that wasn't the whole story. Smadar was scared that baby Yael would cry and give away their position, so she put her and over the baby's mouth.

Once they were safe she discovered... she'd smothered Yael.

I clicked thinking you meant Pennsylvania. Better the PA than Pa., but what a despicable act.