The murderous terrorist attack on innocent civilians at a café in a Tel Aviv shopping area Wednesday night introduced some linguistic confusion as to the name of the area: the official name of the enormous indoor food market is “Sarona,” but many Hebrew speaking reporters opted for “Sharona” — which sounds like the coastline region of the Sharon — only to be told by their editors to change it to the official name which has no meaning at all in Hebrew or any other language.

Popular linguist Avshalom Kor on Thursday morning offered an explanation, siding with the reporters and chiding their editors. The following is his step-by-step argument, which we promise actually delivers a definitive, satisfying answer in the end:

1. European languages don’t have a letter to represent the Sh sound. English uses Sh, French does Ch, and German Sch. This is why the European Greeks, when they arrived in Israel, turned Shimon into Simon, Shmuel into Samuel, and Shimshon into Simpson.

2. The 1871 German Templer founders of the colony outside Jaffa which eventually became Tel Aviv gave it the name Sharona, after the Sharon region (which back then included the Jaffa area). Sharon is an ancient Semitic word meaning forest (up until the 19th century the Sharon valley was covered with a thick forest, which the Turks cut down to fuel their trains). The German settlers wrote the name Sharon as “Saron” because when an S appears at the beginning of a German word or name it is pronounced as Sh (Stuttgart, Staat), or Z. Indeed, the Templers (who later became dedicated Nazis) pronounced the name of their colony as Zarona.

3. The Brits, who took over in 1917, pronounced Sarona as Sarona, simple, effective, and as is often the case in British pronunciation of foreign names, utterly wrong (for an illustration, click the sound icon under the name Gaza in Arabic in GoogleTranslate — this is what the name of the city really is). Try the same with Afghanistan…

In conclusion, the name of the neighborhood, which today straddles Kaplan Street in Tel Aviv, a stone’s throw away from the defense ministry and IDF command compound, has always been Sharona, the name Sarona is a mistake, no such word exists in the Hebrew language and it’s time the owners of the compound changed it to its real version.

With gun control laws so strict in Israel, Israelis often have to improvise when it comes to defending themselves and others against terrorists.

In yesterday’s terror attack in Yafo (Jaffa), one Israeli grabbed his guitar and began chasing and hitting the armed terrorist who had managed to murder an American tourist and wound 9 more people before being killed.

Son, that is the way to treat a fine musical instrument.

The Assistant Secretary and State Department Spokesperson John Kirby issued a statement on Tuesday, March 8, condemning three terrorist attacks in Israel, in one of which an American tourist was killed.

The statement mentioned the American, Taylor Force, by name. Kirby named all three Israeli cities in which the terrorist attacks occurred, but neither mentioned that all three took place in Israel, nor that Palestinian Arabs were the perpetrators of each of the attacks.

The statement reads:

The United States condemns in the strongest possible terms today’s outrageous terrorist attacks in Jaffa, Petah Tikvah, and Jerusalem, which tragically claimed the life of U.S. citizen Taylor Allen Force and left many others severely injured. We offer our heartfelt condolences to the family and friends of Taylor and all those affected by these senseless attacks, and we wish a speedy recovery for the injured. As we have said many times, there is absolutely no justification for terrorism. We continue to encourage all parties to take affirmative steps to reduce tensions and restore calm.

Another fact left unmentioned in the statement issued by the U.S. State Department was that U.S. Vice President was less than a few miles away when the terrorist attack took place in Jaffa.

UPDATE: Force was a U.S. Army vet who had deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan. This former Eagle Scout and combat vet was murdered by a terrorist thug on the boardwalk in Jaffa. 

UPDATE #2: Initial reports that Force was married and that his wife was also injured in the attack were inaccurate. Taylor Force was not married.

Taylor Force, a 29 year-old graduate student at Vanderbilt University, was stabbed to death by a Palestinian Arab during a terrorist attack on Tuesday, March 8 in Jaffa, Israel.

Force was in Israel on a school trip, with other Vanderbilt’s Owen Graduate School of Management students, faculty and staff.

Ten others were wounded in the same attack, including a pregnant woman. No other Vanderbilt students were injured.

Vanderbilt’s Chancellor, Nocholas S. Zeppos, released a statement about the tragedy on Tuesday. He wrote:

Taylor embarked on this trip to expand his understanding of global entrepreneurship and also to share his insights and knowledge with start-ups in Israel. He exemplified the spirit of discovery, learning and service that is the hallmark of our wonderful Owen community. This horrific act of violence has robbed our Vanderbilt family of a young hopeful life and all of the bright promise that he held for bettering our greater world.

Before entering graduate school, Force served in the U.S. Army as a field artillery officer. His deployments included Operation Iraqi Freedom, Operation New Dawn (Iraq), and Operation Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan). He received a B.S. from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. He was also an Eagle Scout.

Force died at the Wolfson Medical Center in Holon. He was from Lubbock, Texas.

A witness to the stabbings told Israel’s Channel 2 that he heard screams and saw the Arab man running towards him with a knife. The man took his guitar and bashed the terrorist over the head. The terrorist withdrew, but then went on to stab several more people before he was shot and killed.

One Arab adult and two Arab minors in Jaffa were indicted Sunday in connection with a firebombing attack on police as they patrolled the city. The indictments were filed in Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court and the Tel Aviv Juvenile Magistrate’s Court.

A gag order on the case was lifted once the indictments were filed.

Information about the arrest, carried out in a joint operation with Israel Police, was released by the Israel Security Agency, Shin Bet, on Sunday afternoon.

Due to the swiftness of the police response, three suspects were arrested and taken into custody almost immediately after the attack.

The three suspects confessed to throwing the firebombs (Molotov cocktails) ten days ago in the attack, which took place in central Jaffa (Yafo).

The perpetrators were allegedly motivated by the need to “support the Palestinian people” and attack Jews who were “violating the sanctity of Al Aqsa.”

The so-called “violation of the sanctity of Al Aqsa” lie that has been spoon-fed to the Arab population by its leadership day after day via the media and during sermons on Fridays at the mosques has become the motivating force behind nearly every attack carried out against Israelis during this current wave of terror.

Two Arab attackers were arrested in Jaffa (Yafo) Wednesday evening after they were caught throwing stones at a bus in the center of town. Both of the terrorists-in-training were legal minors and cannot be identified due to their ages, though their youth did not stop them from attempting to kill Israelis.

Numerous people have been murdered in Israel by Arab terrorists hurling rocks at the vehicles in which they were traveling. As a result, the Israeli government has upgraded the fines and prison terms for convictions of this crime in all age groups as a result.

In Wednesday night’s attack in Jaffa, the bus was damaged but none of the passengers were physically injured.

(JNi.media) At the end of the violent Al-Aqsa Mosque demonstration in Jaffa, the first in this mixed city of Jews and Arabs since October 2000, the city’s Arab business owners are concerned by the deterioration of relations with Jews and the loss of customers, Walla reported.

Five policemen sustained minor injuries Tuesday night in violent clashes with rioting Jaffa Arabs, who identified with the Arab violence in Jerusalem, Israel Radio reported. Police say the riots began during a protest initiated by the Northern Branch of the Islamic Movement—which is radical and anti-Zionist, and residents of Jaffa. The protesters threw stones at the police and at a local Hesder yeshiva (whose students serve in the IDF).

Police said the Arab rioters went on a rampage, throwing stones at vehicles, including buses. Six of the rioters were arrested. Police dispersed the protesters following a meeting with Jaffa community leaders and deployed forces to prevent further disturbances. Police say they are determined to locate the attackers who struck at policemen, and bring them to justice.

“All is calm at the moment,” community leader Samir Motoran, owner of a renowned candy store in Jaffa, told Walla. “From 2000 until today the city of Jaffa has been quiet, we live here in coexistence of Jews and Arabs, and there are no problems. Today, because of the situation in Al-Aqsa Mosque, the Islamic Movement does solidarity protests. Not only in Jaffa, throughout the country. Life here went back to normal after half an hour. The roads are open, and all the Jews are coming back because this city belongs to all of us.”

According Motoran, Arab business owners in the city fear a boycott by Jews, as it was during the second intifada. “My fear is that a small group of extremist Jews will begin to boycott us again, as they did in 2000. We do not want such a boycott, because we live here together and make a living off them. I call on all the citizens of Israel to come to Jaffa in droves. No one would harm anyone, I guarantee it.”

Kamal Aghbarieh, chairman of the Arab Ajami neighborhood, said the boiling point of the riot was in front of the Jaffa yeshiva, “where the demonstration got a little out of control. [Otherwise] the clashes were with security forces and not with the Jewish residents, who live with us together in the same buildings and streets.”