Terror Attack in Jerusalem
I have just woken up to the news that there was another terror attack in Jerusalem last night.
Once again, the terrorist was an Arab resident of Israel.
Once again, the terrorist used a vehicle to try and kill and maim as many as possible.
Once again, the terrorist was shot and killed by a quick-thinking Israeli.
At least 19 people were wounded at around 11 P.M. Monday night when a Palestinian resident of East Jerusalem drove his car into a crowd of Israel Defense Forces soldiers at a busy intersection in the capital.
Two of the wounded were in serious condition, four were moderately hurt and the rest were lightly wounded, the Magen David Adom rescue service said.
Most of the wounded were IDF troops on their way to the Western Wall to mark the upcoming Jewish New Year when the attack at the Tzahal intersection, close to the Old City, took place.
Jerusalem Police Commander Ilan Franco said the driver of the black BMW was shot and killed by an IDF officer who was among the crowd targeted in the attack. Franco said the driver was apparently acting alone.
“A man in a vehicle struck a number of people in Tzahal Square,” police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said. “We can confirm it was a terror attack. The man was shot and killed.”
Israeli TV reported that the car was registered to a resident of Jabel Mukaber, an Arab village in East Jerusalem. The vehicle had a yellow Israeli license plate, the Associated Press news agency reported.
A previously unknown group claimed responsibility for the attack, Channel 2 television said.
An Israel Radio reporter on the scene described a large group of mostly ultra-Orthodox Jews chasing an Arab into the Old City after the attack.
The emergency call came into Magen David Adom at 10:55 P.M., but it described the incident as traffic accident. Only when the ambulance arrived did it become clear that it was a terrorist attack.
“I saw the car coming quickly and hit a group of soldiers and students standing there,” an eyewitness said. “It happened very fast. It was impossible to know beforehand that this is what he intended to do.”
—-
Jerusalem police said that though there was no prior intelligence indicating a possible terror attack, the level of alert had been raised in recent days due to the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and the upcoming Jewish holidays.
Updates (Israel time)
5:50AM: Ynet elaborates that most of the wounded were soldiers who on a ‘Selichot Tour’ in Jerusalem. (Selichot are Jewish penitential prayers said right before/during the High Holidays). So it is interesting to note that a terrorist has used his religious month of Ramadan to perpetrate an attack against Jews during their religious time.
9:07AM: The terrorist has been identified as 19-year-old Kasem Mugrabi, from Jabel Mukaber in east Jerusalem.
9:10AM: A group calling themselves Nisour Al-Jalil has claimed responsibility for the attack (referred to as an “incident” by Ma’an News).
9:35AM: Ha’aretz reports that the family of the terrorist says the incident was actually a traffic accident. Which is amazing, considering they weren’t actually there. Of course, the family of the original bulldozer terrorist already tried this excuse.
11:36AM: According to Ynet, a preliminary police investigation has revealed the terrorist was motivated by unrequited love. The object of his affection was his cousin.
3:40PM: Here’s a picture of the terrorist.
I wonder if his parents were cousins.
6:23PM: Gedalia reports that one of the injured was an Australian citizen, in Israel on the MTA program, and the brother of a Jewish resident of my hometown of Perth.
About the Author
An Australian immigrant to Israel, Aussie Dave has been blogging since early 2003.Filed Under: General
What a hell of a thing to wake up to. Anyone who still insists that Islam is a "religion of peace" hasn't been paying attention.
The world's terror enablers will now utter that it was a legitimate target since they were soldiers, without realizing (or caring) that they were mostly jobniks, besides does anybody really think that if this terrorist didn't find soldiers to run over he would just call it a night? I'm actually glad he attacked soldiers….that's why he got his ass capped so fast.
Fair enough, but it's time we started calling the Arabs – ever last one of them – legitmate targets to be removed from our midst. There are many methods of removal, from financial incentive to transportation to a bullet in the head, the latter for those Arab targets that thought they had a one way ride to killing and maiming us.
Arab homicide drivers are unfortunately nothing new. A number of years ago, during a visit to Israel, I was driving a little Israeli rental car on a 2-lane road near Hadera, with my 3 (then) young children in the car. An Arab truck driver with a hate-filled expression on his face, who was going in the opposite direction, suddenly deliberately switched into my lane and drove his truck straight towards me, to try to kill me and my children. Fortunately, I was able to drive off the road into the dirt to avoid him – but others living in or visiting Israel have not been so fortunate.
I am glad you were alright, Liz. That must have been frightening beyond belief.
As seen on the Biased-BBC Blog: "Cassandra: BBC-W are running the predictable justification for a palestinian mowing down a group of Israelis, the reporter said "the man may well have felt frustration at the way the peace process was going" Oooh so thats all right then, feel a bit frustrated? Yeah, then mow down some people with a car! Simple innit? [ ... ] Cassandra | 23.09.08 – 9:37 am | # " I thought they'd been quiet for a while … On A different note I find that this attack has been widely under-reported… Or is it just me reading the wrong kind of paper ?
I find it fascinating, by the way, that he was driving a BMW… clearly the "frustrating" peace process hasn't hindered his lifestyle
Good point!
word is going around Australia that one of the MTA students (with a brother in Perth) was injured in the attack
I don't buy the MSM peddled bullsh!t, sorry. A guy can be frustrated by the impossible love for a cousin or (in a case of a Pal-Arab) the piss-process (sorry, I had to) can drive him nuts – I can get that. But frustration isn't a reason to kill people, even people you hate. I really HATE my boss and she constantly frustrates and angers me with no limit (and no, I have no problem with shooting her in the face 10 times in front of an entire kindergarten – considering my military background) but she's still alive (though sometimes I can barely hold myself) – that's because I'm a logical person. Arabs, however, not only hate Jews but are poisoned by an evil homicidal cult-like religious-political ideology. Arabs kill Jew because Arabs hate Jews AND because Arabs are Muslims, and there's nothing we can do about it until we break this formula. The hate thing, mathematically speaking, is dependent parameter controlled largely by the Islam variable and thus cannot be erased without taking care of the Islam variable first. And until we can do that – expect more dead bodies, much more.
Really? Do you want to email me privately and tell me who it is?
JPost is reporting that the terrorist was a Hamas member: http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=122201…” target=”_blank”>” target=”_blank”>http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=122201…But of course the BBC is reporting that his family insists that the attack was an "accident" and that the Israelis "murdered" him.
All the attacks in Jerusalem benefit Haim Ramon's crowd which lumps together the Temple Mount and Arab villages on the outskirts of Jerusalem – and seeks to abandon both.
This is why I am for a two state solution with East Jerusalem (minus the old city) and the Arab villages along and near the green line being exchanged for the Jewish towns and cities in the West Bank. We do not need people in our midst sworn to our destruction. Of course, at this point there is nobody to negotiate such a deal with. Stan
[...] Jerusalem Terror Attack: Ongoing Updates israellycool.com [...]