"He's a victim!" "He's a heroic martyr!" "He's both!"

In what has become a daily occurrence, a Palestinian man was shot and killed as he tried to stab Israelis.

Aref Abdel Nasser Aref Lahlouh attempted the attack at a checkpoint near Kedumim.

Palestinian media went through their usual ritual. At first, they claimed that he was shot for no reason.

Then they say that he was "allegedly" trying to stab a soldier but the Israelis killed him in cold blood. And that the heartless Israelis killed him in front of his mother and brother.

And then, when it becomes clear that he actually did try to stab people, they turn him from an innocent victim into a heroic martyr.

Here's video of the incident that appears to show that Lahlouh tried to go around the soldier to attack civilians at the checkpoint, who ran away as the soldier shot him.

Originally, the "Resistance News Network" tweeted, "In yet another cowardly act of cold-blooded execution, zionist forces shot the martyr Aref Abdelnasser Lahlouh (21)  from Jenin the settlement of Kedumim, east of #Qalqilya after being forcibly removed from his car. Aref was shot in front of his mother and epileptic brother."

After the video evidence, there was a complete about face. They proudly show the video, saying "Martyr Aref Lahlouh attempted to carry out a stabbing operation on IOF soldiers in #Qalqilya before his ascendance to martyrdom."

Hamas also tries to have it both ways, but they choose to give one message in English to the West and another in Arabic.

In English:

 The Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas mourns Palestinian citizen Aref Lahlouh, 20, who was extrajudicially killed by the Israeli occupation forces in the occupied West Bank city of Qalqilia.  

In Arabic:

 The Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) mourns to the masses of our stationed Palestinian people, its  fighter martyr: Aref Abdel Nasser Aref Lahlouh (20 years), from the Jenin refugee camp, who rose to fame while carrying out a heroic stabbing operation against the occupation forces near Qalqilya, this afternoon, Wednesday.

The choice of our people is to escalate the confrontation by igniting the land under the feet of the occupation and its settlers, and that the resistance will confront the crimes of the occupation and its aggression against the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque with sacrifices, lives, and all available means so that it remains purely Islamic, and a title for our people and our Arab and Islamic nation.

But the most unusual take comes from the socialist PFLP. The PFLP requires both narratives - from the socialist viewpoint, Palestinians are always victims and therefore always right, while from a Palestinian perspective, they love brave heroic "martyrs." Plus they need to add some antisemitism as well. So their statement includes all three:

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine mourned the death of Aref Abdel Nasser Aref Lahlouh (22 years old), who was shot dead by the occupation army near Qalqilya while trying to carry out a stabbing attack.

The PFLP considered that the Zionist enemy's continued commission of murders against Palestinian youth at checkpoints is at the heart of the killing doctrine rooted in the official Zionist institution, which is dominated by a fascist and bloody military character based on criminal Talmudic religious fatwas.

Interestingly, Ma'an has an analysis that says that Hamas is encouraging these "lone wolf" attacks in order to take IDF attention away from Gaza, and that many Palestinians are critical of these "martyrdom operations" because they often have to pay the price in being unable to go to their jobs in Israel. 

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