From the Facebook page “Palestine Belongs to Palestinians!”

An official IDF tutorial video instructing soldiers to avoid shooting female terrorists whenever possible is being distributed to the rank and file of the Israeli military, the Hebrew newspaper Makor Rishon reported on Friday.

The purpose of the clip, produced by the Samaria Brigade, is to provide clearer guidelines to those serving in the West Bank, who have been encountering the growing phenomenon of Palestinian girls and women attempting to commit stabbing attacks

According to Makor Rishon, the clip gives a glimpse into the complexity of the situation, and illustrates why some soldiers have been complaining that their instructions are often too vague, and their room to maneuver too broad, which at times has put them at risk.

The clip explains in subtitles — below a montage of TV news broadcasts reporting on various terrorist attacks — that because the threat posed by female perpetrators is smaller than that posed by males (which is borne out by the unambiguous success at neutralizing them) their deaths at the hands of soldiers has been sparking an even greater desire in the Palestinian public for revenge. In view of this fact, the video stresses, thwarting attacks by women through early detection and Krav Maga “is preferable” to shooting them.

The video nevertheless concludes by reiterating that soldiers are permitted to shoot terrorists, as they must never put their own lives at risk unnecessarily.

“No change has been made in the rules of engagement,” the IDF spokesman told Makor Rishon.

These words were put to the test on Thursday, when a male Palestinian about to commit a stabbing attack on soldiers guarding the hitchhike post at the entrance to the community of Ofra was shot to death.

Such incidents have become routine since the beginning of the surge in Palestinian terrorism that began a year ago in September and is commonly referred to as the “stabbing” or the “lone-wolf” intifada.

Watch the IDF tutorial below: