13-Nov-13: Israeli is stabbed by Arab assailant in Afula this morning

Afula Central Bus Station [Wikimedia]

The central bus-station in the northern Israeli city of Afula has seen more than its share of violent acts of terror over the years. There's more today.

An Israeli male is in critical condition this morning (Wednesday) after being stabbed by a Palestinian Arab around 08:30 am. Following the attack, the victim was rushed to Afula's Ha'emek Hospital with multiple stab wounds to the neck.

Times of Israel quotes a radio news source saying the victim is an IDF serviceman. Haaretz says he is eighteen years old.

Ynet's Hebrew report says the stabbing took place on a bus traveling from Nazareth to Afula and on to Tel Aviv, and that the attacker is a sixteen year old from Jenin who, the report suggests, was in Israel without a permit. The attacker was seized by other passengers and on the bus' arrival at Afula's central bus station he was taken away by police for interrogation.

UPDATE Wednesday night November 13, 2013:  The victim of this morning's savage attack on a bus is a young soldier, Eden Atias, 18. He died of his injuries shortly after arriving at hospital and is being buried tonight in Nazareth Ilit’s military cemetery as we write these lines. Times of Israel says thousands are attending the funeral.

UPDATE Thursday morning November 14, 2013: For those nourished by the pursuit for root causes, here is the root cause for the murder, while he slept, of a young Israeli man riding on an intercity bus yesterday morning:

"Security guards stopped the assailant, Hussein Jawadra, a 16-year-old Palestinian from Jenin who is residing in Israel illegally, and turned him over to security forces. Jawadra’s two cousins are both held in Israel. One of them was sentenced to three life sentences for the murder of two Israelis and for several counts of attempted murder. The other was jailed for 12 years for attempted murder." [Ynet]

Those two cousins who constitute the claimed motivation for a sixteen year-old to murder a sleeping teenager, were "associated" with the Fatah Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades (the terrorist faction headed by Palestine president Mahmoud Abbas). They were convicted and sentenced for their crimes a decade ago, according to Haaretz. The notion that a simple village boy who likely never met those two clansmen of his, but who felt compelled to avenge them, is ideologically-spun reportorial nonsense. The real story here is the relentless incitement to hatred and murder emanating from the highest levels of the Palestinian Arab power pyramid.