People gather at the scene where two Palestinian militants were killed during clashes with Israeli forces in a raid, in Nablus in the West Bank, July 24, 2022. REUTERS/Raneen Sawafta

Palestinian terror apologists like to ask clueless Westerners, “Don’t Palestinians have the right to defend themselves?”

On the surface, it sounds like a reasonable question. Only when you know a little bit about the situation, do you realize that shooting rockets at civilians is in no way “self defense.” It is terrorism.

We now have more proof that Palestinians are not motivated by self defense, but by Jew-hatred.

Palestinian armed groups announced on Tuesday afternoon that they intended to start a battle in Nablus that night. The reason? To stop Jews from performing “Talmudic prayers” at Joseph’s Tomb.

The IDF entered Nablus Tuesday night, not to arrest a wanted militant — but just to stop the murder of Jewish civilians. The terrorists hoped to harm civilians, and the Israeli soldiers protecting them.

The terrorists — part of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, which is part of the Fatah group headed by Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas — started shooting towards the worshipers. The IDF fired back.

One of the attackers was killed, possibly when the homemade bomb he was holding exploded before he could throw it at the IDF — although the specific circumstances are unclear (the IDF admits to shooting towards him).

The dead terrorist was apparently only 15 years old, although some Palestinian media say he was 17. Either way, he was a child soldier — another inconvenient fact that won’t get mentioned by self-proclaimed progressives, whose interest in such human rights matters vanishes when it comes to Palestinian antisemitism.

There was no pretense of “self defense.” The entire reason to attack, freely admitted by the Palestinians themselves, was to stop Jewish prayer at a Jewish pilgrimage site.

It is pure hatred of Jews, and denial of Jewish rights.

In fact, the terrorists complained that the Jewish pilgrims apparently didn’t arrive on buses, as they usually do, but in armored vehicles — making it more difficult for them to kill Jews.

This isn’t about “Palestine.” This is hate for Jews.