“The girl tried to stab a security officer at the entrance to the Anatot settlement in Binyamin, but he dodged the knife and shot her.” That was the laconic police announcement concerning the attempted stabbing that took place Jan. 23 in the Anatot settlement. A short time later, video from security cameras at the settlement entrance was released to the media. The settlement administrator claimed that the footage demonstrates that the guard was in mortal danger and did everything else he could until he was forced to shoot the girl.
Despite the poor quality of the video, however, it clearly shows the great distance between the knife-wielding girl and the guard who pulled his gun on her. The guard, threatened by a knife in the hands of a 13-year-old girl, could have acted according to the rules of engagement for opening fire, which begins with warning shots fired into the air and progresses to firing at the attacker’s limbs. Only after all possible steps have failed to defuse the situation and the guard is in real danger is he supposed to shoot to kill. Instead, the Anatot guard's very first action was to shoot to kill.
