Click refresh to see new updates during the day.
- Yesterday’s air strike ended up killing a senior Islamic Jihad terrorist.
- PA president Mahmoud Abbas said Iran must stop interfering in palestinian affairs.
Updates (Israel time; most recent at top)
11:45PM: Here’s a comprehensive report on today’s terror attack.
11:20PM: The IAF struck 4 smuggling tunnels a few hours ago. A ferret was reportedly killed in the attack.
11:16PM: Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini has announced Italy’s withdrawal from Durban II due to “aggressive and anti-Semitic statements” in the draft of the event’s final document.
9:13PM: Here’s a picture of the terrorist:
9:06PM: As was the case with the previous tractor terror attacks, the terrorist’s family is playing us for fools.
However, the family of 26-year-old Rdaidah, who was married and had a young daughter, said they believed the incident was an accident and not a deliberate act of terror.
“We are waiting for him to return home… He is only interested in religion, he doesn’t know what terror attacks are, they don’t interest him,” his mother told Channel 10.
It’s simply amazing how many bad drivers live in East Jerusalem and happen to have a tractor license and a Quran handy.
Meanwhile, the question is being asked: how did he drive unhindered to the scene of the attack?
9:02PM: A short time ago, a grad rocket struck near a Synagogue in Netivot.
8:57PM: BBC report of the attack.
8:55PM: Israeli traitor Mordechai Vanunu has requested for his name to be removed from a shortlist of candidates for the Nobel Peace Prize because President Shimon Peres has received the award.
In other news, Israeli traitor Mordechai Vanunu is on a shortlist of candidates for the Nobel Peace Prize. Then again, given Yasser Arafat has won the prize, we shouldn’t be surprised.
8:47PM: From the Department of Excellent Ideas.
A new initiative by members of the United States Congress seeks to condition the transfer of the $900 million for the Palestinians on an end to rocket fire on Israel from Gaza, and the release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.
Of course, I don’t think the palestinians should be getting $900 million anyway, especially considering it will end up in Hamas’ hands.
8:26PM: The terrorist who carried out today’s tractor attack in Jerusalem has been identified as Mir’i Radeideh, 26, a married father of one and resident of east Jerusalem. He was carrying a palestinian ID.
6:35PM: Some eyewitness accounts from today’s terror attack.
Firstly, we have police volunteer Elad Ben-Nun who shot the terrorist:
“We got out of the squad car and moved towards the terrorist. We were about six yards away when I fired at the driver through the window.
The driver keeled over to the left and we hurried to the other side of the tractor. I saw him try to get up. I fired several more rounds until he wasn’t moving anymore.”
Next we have Daniel Housliech, the police officer riding in the car with Ben-Nun:
“We arrived at the scene by way of Golomb Street. We could see the tractor to our left. It was hammering the police car with its shovel and then it tried to flip it over.
“We pulled over and ran to the scene. This was clearly a terror attack and not the scene of an accident. I pulled my gun… and since I am somewhat of a marksman, I hit him immediately.
The driver looked about 35 or 40 years-old and he never said a thing.”
6:32PM: The PA information minister (as in the same PA that are supposedly the “moderates” and our “peace partners”) has said the Jerusalem bulldozer attack was a “traffic accident.”
6:30PM: Further to my 5.55PM update, I was wondering whether Hugh Jackman’s acceptance of the MC gig said something about his support for Israel. I could not find anything, except this interview in which Hugh shows his soft spot for a Jewish tradition.
BRETT RATNER: On film you’re a superhero, but in real life you’re a family man. What’s a typical weekend when you’re not working?
HUGH JACKMAN: I always make pancakes on Sunday morning. I make crepes. French.
BR: So you’re a cook?
HJ: Yeah. And my little boy is now into making them as well. Because he’s grown up with [singing] “Sunday-morning pancakes.” Now he wakes me up with [singing] “Sunday-morning pancakes!” So I flip them with him, and I do the whole thing, and he says, “Flip ’em again, Dad!” Then we always go out, usually for lunch and then to a park or a climb up Runyon Canyon. And Sunday night, there’s nothing better than being at home.
BR: Watching a movie?
HJ: Yeah. And ordering Chinese.
BR: You’re just like a Jew!
HJ: [laughs] Exactly. My wife Deb’s hung out with Jewish people her entire life. We danced the hora at our wedding!
BR: No.
HJ: Yeah! I mean, my dad is the most Christian guy you’ll ever meet. Converted and everything. And then at the wedding, we were lifted up in the chairs, doing the whole thing.
BR: Oh, my God.
HJ: And Deb was like, “Just ’cause I’m not of the faith doesn’t mean I’m gonna miss out on all the fun.” I had the best wedding of everyone. We had like a half-Jewish wedding.
6:17PM: Backspin is all over the BBC’s treatment of today’s terror attack.
Needless to say, it’s typical BBC fare.
6:03PM: Here is some footage from Jerusalem in the aftermath of today’s terror attack.
5:55PM: Rupert Murdoch has spoken out in strong support of Israel at an event MC’d by Hugh “Wolverine” Jackman.
News Corporation boss Rupert Murdoch denounced militia attacks on Israel as he accepted an award from America’s Jewish community.
After a warm introduction from Aussie A-list actor Hugh Jackman, Mr Murdoch lent his voice to Israel’s long-running campaign to join the NATO alliance.
He said the Jewish state should be welcomed into the fold to step up the fight against terrorism.
“In the end, the Israeli people are fighting the same enemy we are: cold-blooded killers who reject peace, who reject freedom, and who rule by the suicide vest, the car bomb, and the human shield,” he said.
Mr Murdoch was speaking at an American Jewish Committee dinner where he was presented with its National Human Relations award.
The 77-year-old media baron sat flanked by wife Wendy Deng and Jackman, who joked that Mr Murdoch had helped him win the mantle of “world’s sexist man” by sharing health tips.
“He gave me the name of his trainer, his herbalist and his beautician,” Jackman said. “He’s got more energy than my eight-year-old.”
5:42PM: Israel’s ambassador to the US Sallai Meridor has announced his intention to resign. This announcement comes after Haaretz reported that Prime Minister-designate Binyamin Netanyahu asking him to leave the room during a meeting with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Jerusalem.
We can safely assume there is a connection.
In the statement, Merridor also said, “It is fitting and desirable that the new government should have the opportunity to appoint immediately after its establishment the most reliable man or woman for the position of ambassador in Washington.”
A dig at Netanyahu for not trusting him?
3:28PM: Hamas has praised the Jerusalem terror attack.
3:00PM: I should also mention that 6 Qassams have been fired into Israel so far today.
2:50PM: TERROR ATTACK IN JERUSALEM: Over an hour and a half ago, Jerusalem saw yet another incident of tractor terrorism.
Details on the attack vary slightly. According to Ha’aretz:
A palestinian tractor driver ploughed into a police car and rammed into a bus, before he was shot by police and a taxi driver at the scene. He later died of his wounds.
The incident took place a little after 1 P.M. near the popular Malkha shopping mall, on Menachem Begin Boulevard, in southern Jerusalem.
Police have yet to release the name of the terrorist who carried out the attack. Channel 2 television quoted the police as saying that an open copy of the Koran had been found in the tractor after the attack.
An eye-witness, Shuli Cohen, told Israel Radio that the driver had used the tractor’s front blade to flip the police car. The two officers inside were lightly hurt, Israel Police said.
Witnesses described a harrowing site of the tractor speeding along the highway, dragging the police car and sending it flying into the air.
The cabbie, identified as Dor, told Israel Radio that he chased the driver as he witnessed the attack.
“I saw the police car fly into the air. He flipped it over twice, then continued dragging it toward a bus that was stuck in traffic,” he said. He told the radio he fired four shots at the man, wounding him. “Then a policeman came with his M-16 and finished him off finally,” he said.
According to Ynet, the tractor missed the bus.
A tractor plowed into a police squad car on Menachem Begin Boulevard in Jerusalem on Thursday. The driver was apparently also trying to hit a bus parked nearby, but missed.
The bus was empty at the time.
Meanwhile, the Jerusalem Post contradicts this, reporting the bus was far from empty:
The initial police investigation indicated that the tractor driver reached the intersection near the Teddy Stadium and managed to push a police vehicle for about 30 meters. After that, he tried to push the police vehicle into a bus, but was blocked apparently by an electrical post.
According to ZAKA, the bus was full of girls dressed in Purim costumes en route to Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital to cheer up patients in advance of the holiday.
A number of bystanders suffering from shock were treated on the scene by MDA teams.
ZAKA operation commander Haim Weinrot said that “the girls were hysterical. They saw the enormous scoop heading toward them and saw death approaching, but they were saved at the last minute by the post. It is a Purim miracle.”
I am sure the picture will become clearer soon. What is already clear is that a Muslim terrorist has once again targeted innocent people.
10:28AM: Roseanne Barr’s latest verbal diarrhea:
ohlmert you lie:
you say that twelve rockets were fired into israel since the end of the “war” (ethnic cleansing). Not one Israeli was hurt or killed by these rockets, and now you say you are going to go back and kill more palestinians to teach them a lesson!!!
I think rockets are being fired by your own sources, since less than ten israelis have been killed by them. You are bullshitting the world as you pocket money made from arms sales, along with bibi and your agents in Hamas. step down all men in power!
Needless to say, this woman is one sick puppy.
10:00AM: Over an hour ago, palestinian terrorists fired a Qassam which landed in the Negev.
8:55AM: Another IAF strike, another 2 Islamic Jihad terrorists vaporized.
Sure beats bombing smuggling tunnels and abandoned outposts.
5:48AM: What the British consider to be “bad” talks: Talks with a company involved in West Bank construction about moving the British embassy in Tel Aviv to a building owned by aforementioned company
What the British consider to be “good” talks: Talks with Hizbullah
5:36AM: Here are some Hamasholes explaining to Al-Jazeera how they booby-trapped their own homes during Operation Cast Lead.
