Innocent victim or heroic fighter martyr? Whichever is better politically

Times of Israel reported yesterday:

A Palestinian man attempted to carry out a car-ramming and stabbing attack in the West Bank on Thursday afternoon and was subsequently shot dead, the military and medics said.

According to the Israel Defense Forces, the man drove onto the opposite lane on the Route 5 highway, and tried to ram his car into civilians and security forces at the Gitai Avisar Junction near the West Bank settlement of Ariel. The suspect then got out of his car while allegedly brandishing a knife, before being shot dead by troops.

Video of the shooting shows clearly that Ahmed Yaqoub Taha came out of his car suddenly and lunged at the Israeli police officer. 

Israeli police also posted photos of the knife he had; unfortunately the videos aren't clear enough to see it.

Taha was a member of the PA security forces, as have been numerous other terrorists in recent months. 

The PA and Fatah are saying that he was an innocent victim, shot at point blank range for no reason. Hamas in English said the same thing.

Hamas in Arabic, on the other hand, called him a "fighter martyr...who was killed by the fire of the occupation forces after he attempted to carry out a run-over and stabbing operation."

Usually in cases like this the same person morphs from an innocent victim to a heroic fighter in the course of a few hours. Apparently Fatah thinks that the video is ambiguous enough to claim he is a victim and to stick to that story.

Actual facts don't matter as much as the intended message and audience.

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