On the evening of June 16, 2017, 23-year-old Border Police officer Hadas Malka was standing guard near Jerusalem’s Damascus Gate, one of the busiest entrances to the Old City.

Before the night was over, she would be dead.

Three Palestinian terrorists from villages near Ramallah launched coordinated attacks using knives and firearms. As officers responded, one of the attackers rushed Malka and stabbed her repeatedly. Four others were wounded before security forces killed the terrorists.

Malka, from Ashdod, died of her injuries shortly afterward.

What followed made the attack unusual even by the standards of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

ISIS claimed responsibility.

“lions of the caliphate carried out a blessed operation in the city of Jerusalem.” –ISIS

Hamas and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine pushed back, insisting that the attackers belonged to Palestinian organizations.

“The three hero martyrs who executed the Jerusalem operation have no connection to Daesh [ISIS], they are affiliated with the [Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine] and Hamas,” Hamas official Izzat El-Reshiq tweeted.

The argument was never about the murder itself. It was about who deserved recognition for carrying it out.

For many outside the Middle East, ISIS represents a uniquely dangerous form of extremism. Yet in Jerusalem that night, the distinction mattered little to the victim. Whether carried out in the name of ISIS, Hamas, or the PFLP, the result was the same: a young policewoman was murdered while protecting the public.

The attack came years before October 7, but it reflected a pattern that long predates both events. Terrorist groups may differ in ideology, tactics, and leadership. Their rivalry often centers on who can claim the mantle of “resistance” and the vile prestige that follows a successful attack.

On June 16, 2017, that competition played out in plain sight.

A young Israeli officer lay dead. Three terrorist organizations wanted the world to know the attack belonged to them.