10-Jul-15: Man with knife stopped by security; Israeli lives are saved; media yawn

A 2010 snapshot of the scene of yesterday's attack
[Image Source: Machsom Watch]

The next time the young man in the story that follows appears in the media (if he ever does) is likely to be as one of the faceless "detainees" depicted as having been thrown into a cruel Israeli lock-up for no logical reason other than Israel's perceived need to have more and more "political prisoners".

Back to reality:

Stabbing attack prevented in north Jerusalem | Ynet, July 10, 2015 | Authorities confirmed Thursday night that a stabbing attack had been prevented in northern Jerusalem where a Palestinian suspect was arrested after approaching a group of soldiers with a knife. The soldiers saw the Palestinian approach and called for him to stop without receiving a response. When the soldiers cocked their weapons, however, the suspect threw his knife to the ground in surprise and the soldiers were able to search and arrest him. The commander of the roadblock where the attack was prevented said that, "We are prepared and trained for these types of event; to my joy, the response of the team at the roadblock was quick and professional so that the attacker was unable to fulfill his plans."
Chief Superintendent and Battalion Commander Golan Sharoni said, "The soldiers acted with determination and professionalism exactly as is expected of them; there's no doubt that the quick response prevented a worse event." Initial investigations suggested that the suspect had intended to attack the soldiers.

The Jerusalem Post clarifies that the attempted attack took place at the Ras Bidu checkpoint on Jerusalem's northern edge. B'Tselem, a far-left activist group which lists IDF security checkpoints [here] calls this one a "permanently staffed" crossing point in the Separation Barrier between the villages of Bidu and Beit Iksa for regulating passage of residents of Beit Iksa, Bidu and East Jerusalem. Beit Iksa is close to northern Jerusalem's Ramot neighbourhood (but for manifestly-ideological reasons, B'tselem routinely call it East Jerusalem).

Over at Israel National News, they add that the knife-man is 17, and that he pulled a knife on the soldiers when they challenged him. He then dropped it and was taken away for questioning.

Needless to point out that yesterday's attempted murder is unreported in the non-Israeli media, like thousands of similar acts before it by other Palestinian Arabs, because (a) no one was killed; (b) Israel's forces conducted themselves in highly appropriate way in the context of a daily battle of nerves with Palestinian Arabs seeking murder victims, especially during their Ramadan; (c) it highlights the persistence of the ongoing, ever-refreshed community-based hatred - connected only in the most tenuous sense to the political narratives that fill the mainstream media - that inspires 17 year olds to go kill themselves an Israeli or two and damn the consequences.