The knife used in one of many recent Palestinian stabbing attacks against Israelis. Photo: Magen David Adom.

A Bahraini columnist on Tuesday condemned Arabs and Muslims who carry out stabbing attacks against civilians, arguing such incidents only succeed in inciting further hatred, the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) reported.

In an op-ed in the Bahraini daily, Al-Watan, Farid Ahmad Hassan highlighted three separate attacks, one in Thailand, one in Germany and a recent one in the “occupied territories” [Israel], “where two Palestinian youths stabbed two Israeli women, who according to reports were elderly, in their backs.” Hassan decried “the use of cold weapons,” calling it a “cowardly act because the person attacked has no way to defend himself.”

According to Hassan, while the attack in Thailand was an alcohol-induced brawl, those in Germany and Israel can be classified as terrorism, due to the perpetrators’ political motivations.

Regarding the specific attack in Israel — which Hassan claimed was the result of “despair” felt by Palestinian youth — “even if the motivation was theoretically justified, some people do not accept it from a practical point of view…Some people contend that…the victims were people whose killing only increases the hatred for and the persecution of Arabs and Muslims. Nobody should be proud of [these attacks], for they are crimes.”

Hassan further stated that stabbing civilians “will not lead to victory,” and that perpetrators of such violence “only supply the enemies of the Arabs and Islam with an excuse to intensify their hatred of all Arabs and Muslims.” Palestinians are especially susceptible to this, he wrote, because they are more exposed “to various dangers, [especially the danger] of being attacked at any time and for no reason. The hatred for the Arabs and Muslims intensified when people who do not understand the consequences of their actions began attacking people who have no direct involvement in the events.”

According to Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, since September 13, 2015, the eve of the Jewish New Year, 452 people, including four Palestinians, were injured and 34 people killed in 278 combined terror attacks. Among these, 148 were stabbing attacks, and an additional 66 were attempted stabbing attacks.