10-Aug-15: Stabbing attack at a highway gas station near Jerusalem [UPDATED]

The aftermath [Image Source]

Two highways serve Jerusalem for traffic to and from the coastal plain, the airport and the Tel Aviv area. One is Highway 1, and it rises through the Judaean Hills from the Sha'ar Hagai area. It's currently undergoing massive reconstruction with the building of a series of tunnels, viaducts and lane duplications. The other, passing by Modi'in and Givat Ze'ev, is called Route 443, leading eventually to the Begin Freeway as it reaches Jerusalem's northern edge.

443 was the scene of a terror attack last night - a reminder of the unbearable pervasiveness of the terror culture around us.

What we know from news reports is that an Israeli man of 25 was stabbed by an Arab assailant during the early evening hours of Sunday August 9, 2015, evidently while working the petrol bowser to fuel his car. He was left lightly injured. IDF soldiers rushed to the site, opened fire at the attacker as he tried to flee the scene of the attack and killed him. (There are two separate, significant IDF security checkpoints within 3-10 minutes drive in both directions, and manned 24x7. Route 443 has a checkered security history because of the easy access to it from nearby Arab settlements.) The assault victim has stabbing injuries to the upper body, according to Haaretz, and was taken to Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem, about 40 minutes drive away, for treatment.

The Jerusalem Post adds that

Police believe there are other suspects involved, however their status remains unknown.

It identifies the stabbing victim as Yehuda Ben Moyal, 26, and quotes this spine-chilling statement from him:

[H]e went to fill up one of his back tires with air and as he was bending down to fill the tire, he was surprised by a stab in the shoulder by a knife. He ran from his attacker and tried to escape, but the attacker continued to chase after him.  "He chased me and I fell. I got up but fell again," he remembers... All the workers at the gas station were Arabs and they "just looked at me and snickered. Not one single person there did anything to help," Moyal said. 

But there's a different view from Times of Israel:

The IDF was alerted to a Sunday night terror attack at a gas station on Road 443 by Palestinians working at the station, says a cafe worker who witnessed the attack. In a Facebook post, army spokesman Lt. Col. Peter Lerner says that Tami Boreda Mizrachi, who works at the cafe adjacent to the gas station where the stabbing attack took place, told him “how the Palestinian workers at the gas station alerted the army to come and catch the assailant.”

Israel National News says this morning it knows the identity of the deceased stabber:

Anes Tah (sic), from a village near Ramallah. Tah, aged 26, was previously incarcerated in an Israeli jail.

There is not much else in the way of background reporting about the circumstances of the attack other than that it took place at the pleasant and well-run Dor Alon gas station, an Arab-operated business a few minutes drive south of Modi'in, and one of the two public fueling points on the busy intercity highway. By far most of the drivers pulling in there for fuel or refreshments are non-Arabs. We have been regular customers there for years.

All the workers at the gas station were Arabs and they "just looked at me and snickered. Not one single person there did anything to help," Moyal said.

Reuters, reflecting how mainstream news organizations view such "clashes", prioritizes cause and effect for its news consumers today in the customary way: "Israeli soldiers shoot dead Palestinian who stabbed Israeli in West Bank".

UPDATE Monday 11:00 am | Graphic first-person testimony via Israel National News:

"I was on the way to Jerusalem from my home, and he (the terrorist) took advantage of the opportunity when I got out of the car and he stabbed me," recalled the terror victim to Army Radio. "He came at me from behind, I felt suddenly that I was stabbed, and I ran, I fled from him."
"I ran, I fell, and got up and ran again, and again I fell," he said, reliving the nightmarish chase from his knife-bearing attacker. "He of course chased after me, and stabbed me again at every opportunity."
Yehuda recalled being stabbed no less than five times, noting, "I shouted 'help me, help me.' I ran to my car while still bleeding and just drove off."
In a chilling detail of the attack, Yehuda pointed out that the Arabs who were present at the gas station simply watched him being pursued by the knife-wielding terrorist bent on murdering him, and did not help him in any way.
"They watched and chuckled and didn't come to help. Even after I was stabbed," he said. "He just didn't stop until I managed to escape with the car."
Before being neutralized by the police, the Arab terrorist tried to stab other victims at the gas station. One driver locked himself in his car and video-taped the attacker lurking outside while brandishing the knife. The video can be viewed by clicking the image [here].

A Hamas blog this morning has taken "credit" for its man, Anes Taha, and the brave thing ("heroic martyr operation") he did last night.