Jerusalem attacks: Social media fear and defiance

Israel has responded to the violence with measures including extra checkpoints in East Jerusalem

In Israel there's anger, outrage, fear and anxiety on social media over a wave of stabbings by Palestinians, while some Palestinians say that the attacks show "defiance" in the face of the "Zionist enemy".

"You need to be abominable to attack an old man who cannot defend himself" says Sapir Dayan on Israel Hayom newspaper's Facebook page under an article about a victim of a stabbing and shooting attack in Jerusalem. "We are fighting with animals in human form."

Another commenter, Adel Segev, says: "Look how he just ruthlessly slaughters this Orthodox [Jewish] man."

Dozens Israelis and Palestinians have been killed in the unrest since the start of October

There is also fear of going out on the streets and advice on how to deal with stress.

"Our hearts start racing, stress and anxiety overwhelm us and we can't stop worrying about what will happen", writes "Mika88" on her blog on saloona.co.il.

"We need to reassure our children and we think: 'How could we possibly do that while we are ourselves not relaxed?'" she continues.

Writing on her blog, "Esterlev" says that "people are overwhelmed by hard feelings: fear, uncertainty, anxiety. Should I leave the house or not?"

'Soldiers on every bus'

Calls for tighter security and harsh penalties abound. "There should be two soldiers on every Jerusalem bus!" says Yair Zano on Facebook.

This bus was attacked in the Armon Hanatziv neighbourhood of Jerusalem

On news website nrg's Facebook page, "Bella Ifergan" comments: "Attacks happen because there is no death penalty."

While Gali Ben Ishay, writing on the Facebook page of Mako, a news and entertainment website linked to Channel 2, says: "We cannot avoid imposing curfews on Arab communities and neighbourhoods."

Israeli police patrol central Jerusalem's Jaffa Road

Some users believe in being prepared.

On nrg's Facebook page, David Shmulenson writes that he does not leave home "without pepper spray, taser or knife".

There is also humour, although some see it as misplaced. A video on Rogatka's Facebook page, which was viewed nearly 315,000 times, appears to show a way of defending yourself against a stabbing attack.

However, it turns out that the method in question consists of hitting the attacker with a fireball.

"It's worth practising at home because performing it under pressure is quite difficult," says the comedian.

'Your smile is victory'

Palestinian social media users have been posting photographs of men and women smiling as they are led away or held down by Israeli police.

The pictures have been circulated widely, although some appear to have first emerged during the Israel-Gaza conflict of 2012.

Captions have stressed "defiance", "a smile to defeat the Zionist enemy" and "your smile is victory".

A striking trend is the stress on women taking part.

Palestinian schoolgirls during an anti-Israel protest

Egypt's banned Freedom and Justice Party posted a photograph of an old woman beating an Israeli soldier with a shoe and praised her "manliness and chivalry".

#Intifada_of_Knives

The Arabic hashtag #Intifada_of_Knives gathered some 5,000 tweets in two days, with users mostly supporting the rising number of stabbings.

One picture asked settlers "to choose [your] way to be killed".

"The offer is available until the liberation of Palestine," it said.

Many Twitter users lament that Arabs seem more interested in watching the musical talent show The Voice.

One photo replaced The Voice logo with a knife instead of the microphone and the words "The best stab" instead of "The best voice".

This image on twitter satirises the logo seen in the TV show The Voice

Another altered The Voice's logo to show a bloodied hand carrying a stone.

Other comments complained that Arabs care more about their internet connection than the Palestinian conflict.

BBC Monitoring reports and analyses news from TV, radio, web and print media around the world. You can follow BBC Monitoring on Twitter and Facebook.