23-Nov-22: In Jerusalem, twin bomb blasts put terror in the spotlight again

Screen grab from live TV news coverage of the Ramot Junction 

bus stop and the shrapnel-damaged commuter bus 

Today was a hard day here in Jerusalem.

Two bombs, evidently placed by a single terrorist group at two separate bus-stop locations in Jerusalem, exploded during the morning rush hour. The results were awful as they are when terror strikes.

A first explosion, around 7:10 am Wednesday morning, happened at a bustling hitchhike-and-bus stop at Jerusalem's main entrance/exit opposite the Givat Sha'ul quarter. 

The location is a very high visibility one on the main road, Highway 1, that leads to the coastal plain, Ben Gurion airport and Tel Aviv. 

The second, shortly after 7:30 am, happened at another bus stop a few minutes drive away at the bustling Ramot Junction.

Times of Israel reports that

A 16-year-old yeshiva student, Aryeh Schupak, was killed and 22 people were hurt in the two attacks, including one listed as critical and another three in serious-moderate condition, according to medical officials. Schupak, who was killed in the first bombing, was a Canadian national as well as an Israeli citizen, according to Canada’s ambassador to Israel.

The remotely detonated devices were packed with nails to maximize casualties, according to police officials.

Due to the nature of the attack with two near-identical bombs exploding within half an hour of each other at two bus stops, Deputy Commissioner Sigal Bar Zvi said police suspected an organized cell was behind it, rather than just one person...

She added that there were no specific warnings about Wednesday’s attack, but there had been intelligence pointing to planned attacks in general. Police also raised their level of alert following the attack, according to Bar Zvi... 

There were no immediate claims of responsibility, but the Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror groups hailed the attacks.

A poster near our home expressing condolences

in the name of the Jerusalem municipality

(The murdered youngster's surname appears in other media reports today as Shechopek and Shchupak. In Hebrew, שצ'ופק.)

The Jerusalem Post reports that hundreds of people attended Aryeh's funeral. The atmosphere was heart-breaking.

This evening in an interview with Calev Ben David on his daily i24NEWS current affairs program The Rundown, Arnold Roth was asked to comment from the perspective of families who have endured the loss of a child in similar terror attacks. 

They discussed what happened and how Jerusalemites might view the re-emergence of terrorist bombings in the city. 

(The video above is posted with the permission of i24NEWS.)