Two Israeli Police Officers Wounded in Jerusalem Car-Ramming Attack, Attacker Shot Dead
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) Two Israeli Border Police officers were lightly wounded on Wednesday when an Arab terrorist rammed his vehicle into them in Jerusalem’s A-Tur neighborhood.
The attacker was shot dead by another border policeman at the scene. Palestinian sources identified the dead terrorist as 41-year-old Amran Abu Dhaim, a resident of Jerusalem’s Jabel Mukaber neighborhood. The wounded Border Police officers were transported to a hospital for medical treatment.
Jerusalem District Police Commander Maj. Gen. Moshe Edri said the border policeman who neutralized the terrorist “did what was expected” of him by preventing further casualties. Following the attack, unrest broke out in the A-Tur neighborhood. Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat arrived at the scene of the attack to be briefed on the details of what happened.
The incident is the latest in a string of Arab car-ramming attacks against Israelis. Last week, 22-year-old Palestinian man Muhammed Arfaaya of Hebron injured four Israelis ages 16-25 when he intentionally drove into a bus stop outside the Jewish community of Alon Shvut in Judea and Samaria. He confessed that he wanted to hurt Jews. Israeli Arab man Majdi Mahmed Salah is suspected of carrying out an April 25 car-ramming terror attack that wounded three Israeli police officers in A-Tur. Also in April, Arab man Khaled Koutineh deliberately drove into a bus stop in Jerusalem’s French Hill junction, killing 26-year-old Jewish man Shalom Yohai Sherki.
Israel Nixes Plan for Separate Bus Lines in Judea and Samaria
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) A pilot program launched Wednesday that sought to make separate bus lines available for Jews and Palestinians across Judea and Samaria was suspended several hours into the trial run, following blistering criticism.
The decision to suspend the pilot program was made following consultations between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon, who had initially approved it. The program planned to have Palestinians entering Israel though major checkpoints across Judea and Samaria return to their homes from the exact same checkpoint, effectively barring them from sharing bus lines with Israeli residents of Judea and Samaria.
The pilot program was meant to take place over the course of three months, after which point its results would be evaluated by the Defense Ministry.
But the program was met with scathing criticism. Before the suspension was announced, former Israeli interior minister Gideon Sa’ar (Likud) said, “The [program] is wrong, it undermines the settlement enterprise, and it seriously harms Israel’s international image.” Zionist Union party leader Isaac Herzog posted on Facebook, “The separation between Jews and Palestinians on public transportation is an unnecessary humiliation; it taints Israel and the Israeli public’s image, and it adds fuel to the fire of hatred against Israel worldwide.”
Member of Knesset Moti Yogev (Habayit Hayehudi), however, dismissed criticism of the program as “hypocrisy.”
“Those who criticize this decision are unfamiliar with the reality on the ground, and their irresponsible statements are riddles with lies and hypocrisy,” Yogev said. “The reality is that the Arabs living in Judea and Samaria have better lives than anyone in the neighboring Arab countries.”
