Leaderless Palestinian youth, inspired by instructional videos and photos on social media encouraging people to “Stab a Jew,” are thought to be behind a new wave of violence in Israel and the West Bank. Uncoordinated and spontaneous attacks by individual young Palestinians, mostly under the age of 25, started to occur almost daily from October 2015, with assailants often using a household weapon — a knife, axe, meat cleaver, screwdriver — before being fired upon by nearby Israeli security forces. So far, the bloodshed has claimed the lives of at least 28 Israelis and 189 Palestinians, 128 of whom Israel says were assailants.
Israelis believe that Palestinian Muslim youth are being radicalized by Islamic groups through online incitement campaigns. Micah Avni, the son of Richard Lakin who was killed in an attack on a public bus in East Jerusalem in October, has filed a civil action lawsuit against Facebook. He and 20,000 other Israelis are suing the platform CEO.
Videos by VICE
In this extra scene, VICE News meets a paramedic who has attended the aftermath of dozens of these incidents and describes the scene after a fatal attack on bus passengers in East Jerusalem in October 2015.
Watch “Digital Intifada (Full Length)”
Read “Companies Are Leaving the West Bank as International Boycott Campaign Gains Ground”
