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.”
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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.
