Canadian Travels to Israel to Die Attacking a Gaza Border Community
Who is Zachariah Adam Quraishi?
Canadian Shot and Killed in Israel in Attempted Knife Attack
Canadian Jewish Organizations expressed alarm today at reports that a Canadian citizen traveled to Israel and drove to the Gaza envelope to attempt a knife attack near Netiv Ha’Asara. On Monday the National Post carried an article: Canadian knife attack in Israel called 'wake-up call' over problem of homegrown extremism, which described Quraishi charging the guards at the gate of the Moshav with a knife. He reportedly said “You are murdering children in Gaza,” before being shot dead by the guards as he approached.
On X (formerly Twitter) a site called Eretz Yisrael 24 reported that the man ignored multiple calls to drop the knife as he ran toward the guards. In this article (Canadian citizen attempts terror stabbing at moshav near Gaza, is shot dead) Times of Israel reporter Emmanuel Fabian reported that the assailant was a Canadian tourist who arrived in Israel on Sunday. He wrote that the attacker shouted “Free Palestine” as he conducted the attack.
Image: Security Forces at the Entrance to Netiv Ha’Asara, scene of a Terrorist Attack by a Canadian Zachariah Adam Quraishi ————— Source Jerusalem Post
B’nai Brith Canada posted on X, expressing concern that Canada was now exporting terrorism to Israel. The B’nai Brith tweet included images of the Canadian passport of the man who was killed. We see his picture and his name Zachariah Adam Quraishi. While the attack happened in Israel, the Canadian Jewish advocacy group pointed out, it could just as easily have happened in Canada.
According to Wikipedia, Netiv Ha’Asara was founded by Israelis who were evacuated from a settlement of the same name that used to exist in Sinai. The original Netiv Ha’Asara was returned to Egyptian sovereignty when Israel and Egypt implemented their 1978 peace agreement. When Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005, Netiv Ha’Asara became the Israeli community that was closest to the frontier.
The border near the village was fortified to prevent infiltration by would be attackers. In spite of this, a number of people were killed in the community in the years after 2005. From the Wikipedia article:
The moshav was a target of Qassam rockets, Katyusha rockets, and mortar shellings, In 2007, the Popular Resistance Committees sent two guerrillas to infiltrate the moshav, but they were killed by the IDF.
Dana Galkowicz, a 22-year-old Israeli-Brazilian woman, was killed on 14 July 2005 at Netiv Ha’Asara by a Qassam rocket. On 10 January 2007, a nine-year-old school girl was killed. On 10 March 2010, a Thai worker was killed.
The Wikipedia article and the story in linked above from the National Post remind us that on October 7, 20 people were massacred at Netiv Ha’Asara by Hamas invaders from Gaza.
Almost No Coverage from Canada’s Broadcast Media
We are still waiting for Canadian coverage that sheds light on the background of the assailant. As of early evening on Monday, July 22 in the Eastern Time Zone, the CBC has an out of date report on its web site referring only to an unidentified Canadian. The report makes no reference to the killings that occurred at Netiv Ha’Asara on October 7 or at any time in the past.
The terse report on the death of a Canadian stands in contrast to the detailed and emotive language in the article that follows, describing the situation in Khan Younis, where Israel has warned people to evacuate ahead of an operation against Hamas, which has embedded itself deeply among the civilian population in the area.
Thousands of Palestinians, many carrying backpacks and accompanied by children, walked down dusty roads under the scorching sun, navigating dilapidated cars with belongings tied on top. Many Palestinians have been uprooted multiple times in search of safety during Israeli's air and ground campaign.
"We do not know where we are walking," said Kholoud Al Dadas, as she clutched her children. "This is our seventh or eighth time we have been displaced. While we were sleeping in our homes, they started shooting at us, bombing from everywhere."
While the report ensures that readers feel the pain of Palestinian civilians affected by the war in Gaza, and it reports on the actions of the Israeli military, it never reports anything about the activities of Hamas which make the evacuation necessary. The reason for the evacuation is always attributed to Israel, never to the presence of Hamas using the civilian population as cover. Any report on Hamas activities is always reported as “according to Israel”. About Israel’s activities there are facts to report, but about Hamas there is only “Israel claims” or “Israel says”.
The Israeli military on Monday ordered the evacuation of part of an area in the Gaza Strip it has designated a humanitarian zone. The military said it is planning to begin an operation against Hamas militants who have embedded themselves in the area and used it to launch rockets toward Israel.
The CTV web site has exactly the same story as the CBC, except that on CTV, the attack by the Canadian is not broken out as a separate item. It is mentioned in a paragraph after the identical language about Palestinians seeking refuge that we quoted just above. Like the CBC site, the CTV article does not identify Zachariah Adam Quraishi by name. CTV adds a report of the unreliable figures issued by the Gaza Ministry of Health, saying that the total of deaths has reached 39,000.
In contrast, the National Post article is balanced, noting that the residents of Netiv Ha’Asara were attacked on October 7 and recalling that many other communities in the area were also attacked as part of a campaign of murder, rape and destruction committed by attackers from Gaza.
We Continue to Speak Truth We See, Although Some Will Be Unwilling to Listen
Given the relentlessly biased reporting of our principal sources of broadcast news, we might well ask if it is surprising that a Canadian might believe, as the attacker apparently did that “Israel is murdering children in Gaza”.
Image: Picture from the Israeli authorities of Canadian Passport held by the terrorist who was killed during his attack at Netiv Ha’Assara —— Source: National Post
The National Post article linked above was expanded by late on July 22 to include comments from the Center for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) which emphasize the irresponsible role of Canadian media in propagating a false picture of Israel’s motives for what it is doing in Gaza, as well as unsubstantiated claims by Hamas on the impact of Israel’s actions on the people of Gaza.
We know that Canadian journalists are under pressure to report everything that happens in Israel’s war against Hamas through the “lens of Palestinian Human Rights”. This approach leaves little space to inform Canadian viewers and readers about the impact of Hamas atrocities on Israelis. There are no reports in the CBC and CTV articles on the way the residents of Netiv Assaraf are feeling today, after hearing that a Canadian traveled across the world to die trying to attack the people who’s job it is to keep them safe. The story was not mentioned this evening on the CTV National News.
Some Canadians are responding to distorted coverage of the news from Gaza by descending into rage and hatred against Israel, and anyone who supports Israel’s right to defend itself. We have an old friend from high school that we reconnected with after almost fifty years and met a couple of times at reunion gatherings here in Ottawa. It was great to renew contact and catch up.
But since the beginning of the war, she grew increasingly hostile in her response to our writing, which makes the case for the justice of Israel’s cause in the current war. Her responses do not grapple with the facts being presented. Instead the response amounts to a claim that only a morally depraved individual would want to try to defend Israel’s actions in Gaza. If that is the point of departure for the conversation, then any facts that one might present have no chance of being heard.
Yesterday we noticed that people were replying to comments by my friend on a Facebook thread. The comments themselves were not visible and we realized that she has blocked us.
This publication is dedicated to the proposition that telling the whole truth about what is happening in Israel is important, and that the effort to communicate that truth in the face of efforts to conceal it continues to be worthwhile. Not everyone is interested in engaging with the truth, unfortunately. It is easier to attack the messenger and ignore the message.
For more on the pressure on Canadian journalists see our earlier article
Honest Reporting
It’s a challenge keeping up with events, as encampments spread on Canadian campuses and contradictory news is pushed out on ceasefire negotiations and the beginning of an Israeli operation in Rafah. Today’s article looks at an ongoing issue: the way ideology distorts news coverage of Israel and especially its struggle against the ongoing campaign of vi…
Thank you to the new subscribers who have joined us this week. We are grateful to have you among our growing audience.
If you like what we are doing here, please share this article with others who might be interested and consider upgrading to a paid subscription to support our work.
If you are a paid subscriber you can leave a comment.
To everyone, thank you for reading Canadian Zionist Forum.
If the miscreant had decided to attack Jews in Canada rather than Israel he would still be alive and likely would have succeeded in harming people.
I am shocked . This certainly should have made the Canadian news across different news agencies as a separate story. Can we win this media war or have we already lost it?