Scene of tonight's attack near Kibbutz Gan Shmuel [Haaretz] |
As Times of Israel reported tonight (Sunday) around 7:00 pm,
Four Israelis were wounded Sunday evening in a knife attack on Route 65 at the entrance to the kibbutz of Gan Shmuel, near the northern city of Hadera. One of the four, a 19-year-old woman, is in serious condition. [Times of Israel, October 11, 2015]An Israeli Arab man, said to be about 20, from Umm al-Fahm ("mother of charcoal" in Arabic, a reminder of the forests that used to be part of the nearby landscape), a city of some 50,000, virtually all of them Arabs, and almost all holding Israeli citizenship, carried out the attack. His city is part of the region Israelis call the Wadi Ara Triangle, and usually just The Triangle, Hameshulash. Other major communities in the Triangle are Kafr Qara, Ar'ara, Baqa-Jatt, Qalansawe, Tayibe, Kafr Qassem, Tira, Kafr Bara and Jaljulia.
The terrorist's attack vehicle |
His other victims also reflected a carefully articulated political statement. In order to show how much, how really much, he and his fellow believers want freedom, respect, dignity, empowerment, he attacked a 14-year-old girl, now suffering from moderate (but unspecified) injuries; a 20-year-old man - possibly also in IDF uniform - now with light (but unspecified) injuries; and a man of 45 with wounds to his hand.
There were some initial reports that a second terrorist was involved and that he had fled the scene with a weapon belonging to one of the victims. Police have now confirmed that no weapon was taken, and there is no second suspect.
Life in the Triangle has been fraught for some time, and especially in the past few days as eruptions of passion for the acts of shooting and stabbing executed by Arabs in other parts of Israel appear to have captured the imagination of the locals:
[This past] Friday night was marked by widespread rioting in solidarity with Palestinians, and due to anger at the shooting a female terrorist across Arab towns in the north, Galilee, and the triangle area. Dozens of youths, some masked, set fires to tires and threw rocks at security forces in Nazareth, while large quantities of police were deployed to the scene. Multiple arrests were also reported in Sakhnin, while youths reportedly threw stones and clashed with police forces in Kfara Kanna.
A Police vehicle which arrived in Taybeh late on Friday was met with a hail of rocks and angry rioters. [Ynet, October 9, 2015]
Gan Shmuel Mall |
Haaretz reported in the past half-hour (it's now 10:30 pm) that the attacker is Ala Raed Zyud, a 22-year-old resident of Umm al-Fahm.
Incitement of Arabs to attack Israelis by means of their cars and knives has been evident for months.
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