Arabs Vandalize Memorial of Beloved Community Pioneer

Family members of Gilad Zar, a victim of terror, discovered on Tuesday that Arab anti-Israel activists had defaced a memorial site built in his honor.

Arabs vandalized a memorial for an Israeli pioneer of a community in Judea and Samaria who was murdered by terrorists 13 years ago.

Gilad Zar hailed from the Jewish community of Itamar in Samaria – the same city where five members of the Fogel family were brutally murdered in 2011. He was killed in a terrorist ambush while driving between the communities of Kedumim and Yitzhar, also in Samaria.

A security officer for the Samaria Regional Council, Zar was hit by a barrage of more than 40 bullets. Palestinian Arab terrorists shot at his windshield from a parked car, causing Zar’s vehicle to overturn. They then walked over and shot him in the head at point-blank range before fleeing to Nablus (Shechem).

Zar died en route to hospital.

It was the second attempt on his life. He was seriously injured two months earlier, when he was shot in the chest, hand and leg.

This week, Arabs vandalized a memorial for Zar located in the region on the “Road of Gilad” – named for the victim. His family was notified on Tuesday morning, and police quickly began working to repair the damage.

The incident received scant media coverage. However, when similar circumstances occur in Arab towns and villages, known as “price tag” attacks, it is always assumed that nationalist Jews were the perpetrators and the event is widely publicized.

“Every time anything is done against Arabs, the police open a special investigation,” a security professional in Judea and Samaria told United with Israel, referring to the quick response to vandalism of Muslim sites in Israel. That mischief, although reprehensible, usually consists of drawing graffiti in a mosque, which is clearly incomparable to Palestinian Arab terror attacks that maim and kill innocent civilians, he pointed out.

Furthermore, he said, it was never been confirmed that vandalism of Arab sites is necessarily done by nationalist Jews each and every time; it would not be surprising, he explained, if a number of these acts had been committed by anti-Israel activists hoping to defame the residents of Judea and Samaria.

“We hope that the police will take this act of vandalism just as seriously and find out who did this terrible act,” he said, regarding the defacement of Zar’s memorial.

Moshe Zar – Gilad’s father – was among the first pioneers in Samaria, having served in the “101” special commando army unit under late Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

The younger Zar was one of the founders of Itamar. He was survived by his wife and eight children, as well as his parents and seven brothers and sisters.

“Everyone, from the hilltops to the cities, knew him and respected him,” Binyamin Regional Council head Pinhas Wallerstein said at Zar’s funeral.

Gilad Zar was buried in Karnei Shomron.

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