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Source: https://www.ynetnews.com/article/s1ae11usca
Inspecting the UN's Strange Numbers on Israeli Violence Against Palestinians
(Ynet News) Amit Segal - The eyes of the world are focusing on the issue of Israeli violence against Palestinians. However, when the details on Israeli violence are examined thoroughly, it seems like there isn't much violence, according to Dr. Michael Wolfowicz, a criminology researcher at the Hebrew University's Faculty of Law. Between 2016 and 2022, UN data listed 5,656 incidents of Israeli violence against Palestinians. But delving into the numbers reveals that 1,600 of the incidents took place in Jerusalem, with almost all involving Jews entering the Temple Mount or clashes between the police and Muslims who acted violently in the area. There were 2,500 incidents that describe property damage or assault, but they include a terror attack in which a Palestinian terrorist attacked Jews and was neutralized. On April 8, 2018, Mahmoud Abedel Karim Marshoud attempted to stab Israeli civilians near Ma'ale Adumim. He was neutralized and succumbed to his injuries the next day. The UN included this as two violent incidents: on April 8, shooting at a Palestinian, and on April 9, a killing. On July 26, 2018, Yotam Ovadia, 30, was murdered by a Palestinian terrorist who stabbed him. According to the UN, this was classified as settler violence. The same goes for a stabbing attack in Mount Hebron, another one in Yitzhar, and an incident where Arab rioters clashed with security forces at Joseph's Tomb. Even a car accident in which an Israeli hit a Palestinian was classified as violence. After filtering all of these, we're left with about 20 violent incidents in a month, most of them being cases of mutual violence, and some reported only by Palestinian sources without being verified. By comparison, in 2019-2022 there were 25,257 incidents of Palestinian attacks against Israelis, a rate of 526 incidents per month. In 2023, the number jumped to 763. Yet Israeli violence is exaggerated from a limited phenomenon to a widespread issue.