6-Apr-14: Scenes from an ongoing war

Mt Scopus campus of the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem, immediately
adjacent to Jerusalem's French Hill
neighborhood [Image Source]

From Israel National News, "Arab Rock-Throwers Tried to Kill Me":

Raphael Delarosa, a Jerusalem resident and father of well-known journalist Emily Amrousi, was attacked Tuesday [April 1, 2014] while driving his car in the French Hill neighborhood of the capital. The attackers, from the Arab neighborhood of Issawiya, threw stones and bricks at his car, shattering the rear windshield... "I was on my way to a building supplies store right behind the Hadassah Mount Scopus Hospital, on the border between two Jerusalem neighborhoods - Issawiya and French Hill. I left the store, said thank you to the pleasant Arab salespeople, drove 50 meters and suddenly was attacked by a hail of blocks and stones thrown by 16- to 17-year-old youth," noted the Jerusalem man. Delarosa emphasized that he didn't try to escape the area, but rather left his car and went to the Arab store owners standing around, saying "Look at what they did to me, no one will make us run from here, from sovereign Jerusalem..." [Israel National News]

From "Police prevent stabbing in Ma'ale Adumim", a Times of Israel article published Saturday night:

A Palestinian man was arrested in... Ma’ale Adumim Friday as he prepared to carry out a stabbing attack, it was announced Saturday evening. Police detained the suspect after receiving reports of a suspicious man, possibly drunk, standing near the town’s entrance. He was found to be carrying a 30cm-long (12-inch) knife. The man, a 34-year-old resident of Abu Dis, told policemen he had intended to stab someone in the town.

Students on the Mt Scopus campus [Image Source]

From "Student nightclub firebombed near Hebrew University", this morning (Sunday):

A nightclub in Jerusalem’s French Hill neighborhood was firebombed at around midnight Saturday night, police said Sunday morning. One person was lightly injured from smoke inhalation in the attack. Arrests have been made in the case and police are working on determining if the attack was criminal or politically motivated. Just before midnight, three Molotov cocktails were thrown at the club, which is in an area frequented by students from the nearby Mt. Scopus campus of Hebrew University, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told the Times of Israel. He added that police opened an investigation into the attack, “three suspects were arrested for being connected to the incident” following a search of the area... The French Hill area has seen numerous firebombings and incidents of stone throwing in the past, mostly perpetrated by residents of adjacent Arab neighborhoods and often directed at students at the university, many of whom live in nearby dormitories. There was a surge in petrol bombings and stone throwing incidents around French Hill in January and February, police said, and then after an investigation 16 arrests were made.

UPDATE: In a follow-up report on April 7, 2014, Israel National News says:

Although initial reports said that the firebombs targeted a nightclub or dance hall, it now turns out that they were actually thrown outside a Conservative synagogue. A section of the synagogue is rented out on Saturday nights and serves as a dance hall for senior citizens. There have been four firebomb attacks in the neighborhood since January, and all are seen as nationalist terror acts... The attacks have concentrated on a part of the neighborhood that includes the kindergarden, the synagogue and the school. 

It goes on to quote a resident who says: “Our children have become targets... I am worried every time my daughter stands at the bus station.”

Haaretz estimated in 2012 ["Israel to launch campaign to attract more Arab students to universities"] that Arab students constitute about 12% of the student body at the Hebrew University. Does anyone imagine the stabbings, bombings and assaults will cease when that number rises?