Politically-motivated rapes should be considered by Israel to be acts of terrorism en par with injuries caused by qassam rockets, rock-throwing, and suicide bombings.

As we speak, a young 19-year-old Israeli woman who was gang raped and beaten up at the tender age of 13 by four nationally-motivated Palestinians is appealing a decision made by the Israeli Defense Ministry, which claimed that her case should not be considered an act of terrorism. While everyone is speaking about the indecent remark made by the judge—who subsequently resigned from his post—Nissim Yeshaya, who had stated that “some girls enjoy getting raped,” not enough people are questioning the Israeli Defense Ministry for not classifying her case as an act of terrorism to begin with.

According to the National Insurance Institute of Israel website, a hostilities-related injury should include “an injury resulting from an act of violence whose purpose was to harm people because of their national or ethnic origin, provided that it arises from the Israeli-Arab conflict or was committed by a terrorist organization.”

According to the U.S. State Department and Title 22 of the U.S. Penal Code Section 265, terrorism is “politically motivated violence perpetrated against non-combatant targets by sub-national groups or clandestine agents.” As an Israeli woman, I find myself asking, how can one not include a group of politically-motivated Palestinian men deciding to gang-rape a Jewish child specifically because of her national origin, as an act of terrorism?

If a Palestinian rapes a Jewish woman to fulfill some animistic desire and lacks political intentions, then I could understand why it wouldn’t be classified as terrorism, although in my view it is a travesty of justice for rapists to merely serve two years in prison, as was set to happen in this case. Rape is a crime that can emotionally destroy a woman for years into the future. Many rape victims, if not given the proper therapy, and especially if they were raped at a young age, find it very difficult to function due to the trauma that they experienced. For this reason, rapists deserve much more time in prison than two years, regardless of what age they were when they committed the crime.

But when rape is politically-motivated by antisemitism, the punishment for such a crime should be en par with terrorism. In this particular instance, there was convincing evidence that these four Palestinians targeted this Jewish child specifically for her ethnicity. This young Jewish girl was literally dragged off the streets of Jerusalem at random, where she was beaten up and gang raped in such a humiliating manner that only someone motivated by racial hatred would behave in such a way. So if it is established that political motives are involved; then gang rape should be considered an injury en par with being wounded from rock-throwing, qassam rockets, or suicide bombings!

Since the 1929 Hebron Massacre, rape has been an element of Arab terrorism orchestrated against Jewish civilians as part of the Arab-Israeli conflict. More than one case of gang rape committed by Israeli Arab men has been found to be politically motivated. In the Negev and parts of Jerusalem, Arabs sexually harassing Jewish women has become a major issue. Furthermore, in Syria, Iran, and other Muslim countries, rape has been used as a political tool of terrorism in order to silence the political opposition, proving that the Arab-Israeli conflict is not the only instance where rape has been used as a tool of terrorism. There is also international legal precedent for considering rape as part of a political conflict to be a war crime. Given all of this, the Israeli authorities should treat politically-motivated rapes as terrorism, not merely as criminal acts.

For the second time in just over a week, Arabs have poured oil on the main road connecting Highway 60 to Beitar (near Efrat), in the middle of the night.

A little over a week ago, Arabs poured oil on the same road causing a car to spin out of control and crash.

The fire department was sent to clean up the oil.

On Friday, Efrat residents protested the lack of security on that and other roads in Gush Etzion.

Aharon Zlotkin, the 53 year old man hit in the head by Arab terrorists two days ago at the Doar Junction, has come out of his coma.

He’s also managed to slightly move his hands and feet. His condition is still listed as serious.

An Israeli man injured by Arabs on Saturday night has been upgraded to serious condition and moved onto a respirator.

Settlers were protesting the rapidly deteriorating security situation in their area, at the Doar Junction near Talmonim, on Saturday night.

As if to prove the point, Arabs from nearby villages came up with clubs and stones and attacked the Israelis, fracturing the skull of one of them, and injuring others.

The seriously  injured man (50) from the town of Neriah, was taken to Tel Hashomer Hospital, where his situation has apparently gotten worse.

Tehillim can be said for Aharon Ben Golda.

Earlier on Saturday, two other Israelis were attacked by Arabs near Dolev, and they also suffered injuries and were taken to the hospital.

On Wednesday evening, residents of Efrat left the safety of their town’s borders to hold a peaceful protest along the main road leading to their northern entrance, which is also near the entrance to a nearby Arab village.

The Efrat residents were protesting the recent wave of Arab stone throwing, fire bombs, and burning tires that have left residents of Efrat injured and their cars damaged. Many of the attacks took place at the protest’s exact location.

The protest was organized by Women in Green leader, Nadia Matar, who demanded that the new Defense Minister take a stronger position against the Arab terrorists, and provide more protection on a daily basis.

Numerous soldiers were on site to protect the protesters, and in the video below, one can see some damage to one of their jeeps from Arab attacks. The protesters thanked the army for the job they are doing, despite being held back by the political echelons.

Numerous police were also at the protest site, but they were more busy photographing and filming the citizens of Efrat who were demanding protection.

Despite the significant rise in terror attacks against Jews in Judea and Samaria, the Israeli High Court ruled that the fences around two towns, Ofra and Adam in the Binyamin region, be dismantled.

The Israeli High Court ruled that the fences were built without the proper authorizations, and they cut off Arab access to some farmland. The fences were built to prevent Arab terrorists from infiltrating into the town and committing terror attacks. Ofra is a community of 3000 residents, and Adam has over 4000 residents.

The IDF was supposed to dismantle the fences 3 months ago, and replace them with new fences around the towns, but it never began work on either project.

The primary reason the IDF did not comply is because they Ministry of Defence never gave approval or funding for the replacement fences.

Major General Nitzan Alon just gave the order to dismantle the security fences around two towns by this coming Friday, even though no replacement fence is in place.

It may take the IDF up to 6 months to build a new fence to protect the towns, assuming the IDF gets the approvals and funding.

Alon said the IDF will increase patrols around the communities until a replacement fence is built.

The town of Ofra has petitioned the High Court to not destroy the fence until a new one is built, as the IDF patrols alone are insufficient protection against Arab terror in the area. An answer to the petition is expected mid-week.