Israel on alert after two attacks
A PALESTINIAN teenager rammed a car into an Israeli border police officer at a checkpoint early Monday morning, seriously wounding the officer.
Officers at the checkpoint opened fire on the driver, who was later pronounced dead at a hospital. According to The Times of Israel, Palestinian media identified the assailant as Muhammad Nidal Younis, a 16-year-old from the Palestinian city of Nablus in the West Bank.
Younis drove the car into another car at the Te’enim checkpoint around 1.20am and hit a 34-year-old guard. He was then shot by other Israeli officers stationed at the crossing.
The car ramming came just one day after a stabbing attack in the Old City on Saturday and just over two weeks after a Hamas gunman killed South African expat Eli Kay in the Old City of Jerusalem on November 21.
In all three cases, the assailants were killed by Israeli officers.
Israeli Defence Minister Benny Gantz ordered checkpoints between Israel and the West Bank to operate on high alert in the wake of the attacks.
“The Defence Minister ordered a comprehensive investigation, that the lessons be learned and level of alertness and readiness be raised in all crossings in the area of Judea and Samaria,” Gantz’s office said, according to The Times of Israel.
Saturday’s attack saw an Orthodox Jew stabbed near the Damascus Gate in the Old City.
Video of the incident released by the police shows the assailant, identified as Muhammad Salima, crossing the street before attacking a man who had been walking behind him. Salima then starts to run towards two Israeli police officers stationed nearby, who shot him, causing him to fall to the ground. The officers shot Salima again while he lay on the ground, where he died.
The victim in Saturday’s attack, a young Orthodox man, was taken to the hospital with what news accounts said were moderate-to-severe wounds.
Several Arab leaders in Israel criticised the officers for shooting at Salima while he lay on the ground.
“Execution of a person who no longer poses a threat is a horrible and terrible crime. This is the reality that the occupation produces,” Aida Touma-Sliman, an MK from the Hadash party tweeted.
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett tweeted in support of the officers, saying they “prevented murder and acted with operational resourcefulness within a few split seconds – as is required of fighters in such an operational situation”.
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