11-Dec-17: Sunday's Jerusalem stabbing victim: Updated (again)

The victim of the terrorist knifing attack, Asher Elmaliach

The Sunday knifing attack on a private security guard at the busy entrance to Jerusalem's Central Bus Station ["10-Dec-17: A stabbing attack on a security guard shuts down Jerusalem's main bus station"] appears to have made little impact on global news channels.

Even less attention, in the nature of things, is being paid to how the victim is doing. That's inexcusable.

Here's an update from this morning (Monday):

The condition of the security guard stabbed in the chest by a Palestinian terrorist at the entrance to the Jerusalem Central Bus Station Sunday has stabilized, doctors at Shaare Zedek Medical Center said Monday morning. Asher Elmaliach, 46, sustained serious injuries when he was stabbed in the heart Sunday afternoon. He showed early signs of awakening, but remains unconscious and connected to a respirator in the intensive care unit, a hospital spokesperson said. [Times of Israel, December 11, 2017]

For people who pray, please keep Asher Ben Tamar in your thoughts. Thank you.

UPDATE Sunday December 17, 2017
Ynet reports this morning: "The Shaare Zedek Medical Center said the condition of the security guard who was stabbed in the central bus station terrorist attack last week continues to be very serious." Even if we're not medical people, it's in our power to help. For people who pray, please keep Asher Ben Tamar in your thoughts. Thank you.

10-Dec-17: A stabbing attack on a security guard shuts down Jerusalem's main bus station

The alleged attacker is pinned down by police
and security in an image from social media

A knifing attack reported a little after 2:15 pm this afternoon (Sunday) has left a security guard badly injured and undergoing treatment at Jerusalem's Shaarei Zedek Medical Center. Israel National News gives his age as about 25.

The attacker was stopped by means that are not yet clear but is reported to be alive. One source [here] describes him as a Palestinian Arab male of 24. Photos of his knife, dripping with blood, are circulating in the social media.

Times of Israel says the victim was unconscious by the time he reached the emergency room. It adds:

According to police, the suspected terrorist is a 24-year-old Palestinian from the West Bank. His name was not released. It was not immediately clear how he entered Israel, specifically if he had a work permit or if he had done so illegally. After he was subdued, the suspect was stripped to ensure he did not have a suicide vest or other weapon hidden under his clothes.

The Central Bus Station area, near the main entry point to Jerusalem and always congested during the afternoon peak hour, is now affected by police barriers and shut-downs.

Associated Press quotes Israel Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld saying the guard was seriously wounded Sunday and his attacker arrested. The Magen David Adom medical service says a 30-year-old male suffered a stabbing wound in his upper body:

The incident appeared to be the first attack since President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. The announcement set off protests and demonstration across the West Bank, east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, and demonstrations around the world.

But let's be clear. Terrorism isn't a protest. Or a demonstration.

UPDATE 6:30 pm December 10, 2017: Times of Israel says the victim, an employee of a private security firm, is older than originally reported:

"Medics from the Magen David Adom ambulance service said they tried to stop the bleeding and applied bandages during the five-minute ambulance ride to the hospital. The victim, 46, was taken to the capital’s Shaare Zedek Medical Center for treatment where doctors were battling to stabilize his condition and save his life, said Dr. Ofer Merrin, the head of trauma center. “The knife, unfortunately, hit his heart. His condition has stabilized, but I cannot say that there’s not threat to his life because, like I said, he’s in serious condition,” the doctor said, adding that he was unconscious and connected to a respirator."

We don't have his name yet.

UPDATE 7:40 pm December 10, 2017: We're told the name (for prayer purposes - in Jewish tradition, the name of the mother is invoked) of the critically injured security guard is Asher ben Tamar. He could use everyone's prayers. The knifer, according to Israel National News, is a 24-year-old Palestinian Arab from Nablus (in Hebrew: Shechem), who goes by the name Yassin Abu Al-Keraa. [Others write it Yasin Abu al-Qur’a or al-Qar’a] He is being treated for his injuries. A Facebook post he uploaded today is translated as  “For Allah’s sake we rose up, we wish to raise the banner…to let our religion [Islam] exult once again, and to make the Al Aqsa Mosque [on the Temple Mount] once again be resplendent... Please let our blood be spilled – for it is of little matter to spill one’s blood for our homeland, for Jerusalem, and for the Al Aqsa Mosque.”

UPDATE 5:00 pm January 14, 2018
With deep thanks to the A-mighty, we can report that the security guard who was stabbed in the heart during a terror attack at Jerusalem’s Central Bus Station on December 10, 2017, was released today (Sunday) from Jerusalem's Shaarei Zedek Medical Center. Doctors say the condition of Asher Elmaliach, 46, is very good. He was transferred today to a rehabilitation program where efforts will continue to be made to help him regain his physical strength. Times of Israel says Elmaliach spent weeks on an extracorporeal membrane oxygenation machine, or ECMO. This is designed to take the strain off the heart and lungs by undertaking some of their functions, removing carbon dioxide from the blood and resupplying it with oxygen. The attacker (we named him above) from Wadi al-Fara, near Nablus, was charged on December 28, 2017 with carrying out “a terrorist act of attempted murder” and with entering Israel illegally. The charge sheet says that on the morning of the vicious attack, al-Qar’a “said goodbye to his loved ones on the phone”, bought a knife and illegally traveled to Israel in order to carry out an act of terror. Having been told of Trump’s announcement to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital, “the defendant planned to stab as many Jews as possible until he was killed and turned into a martyr,” the indictment reads. He first went to Hadera, taking advantage of an Israeli government permit that allowed him to enter the “seam zone” of the West Bank though but not Israel within the Green Line. Fearing he would be discovered if he traveled on a public bus, he took a NIS 500 ($140) cab ride from Hadera to Jerusalem. During the ride, he composed his last will and testament "based on what he’d been taught in Palestinian Authority schools", according to the indictment. At Jerusalem's Central Bus Station, he was stopped at the door by Elmaliach who asked him to pass through a metal detector before entering. The knife hidden in his coat was then detected at which point the attacker, realizing Elmaliach was Jewish, “decided to stab him to death”. He nearly succeeded.

27-Dec-15: Sunday morning knifing outside Jerusalem transit hub

Scene of this morning's terror attack

Sunday morning, unlike much of the world but in common with the entire Middle East, is a busy time in Israel. It's the start of the working week . For many IDF and security personnel, it's when they make their way back to base after a weekend off. In and around the various central bus stations across the country, it's the peakest of peak hours.

Around 6:40 this morning (Sunday), a Palestinian Arab assailant, armed with a knife, launched a stabbing attack on a young IDF service man, inflicting stab wounds to his upper body. Times of Israel reports that he received emergency treatment at the scene - on Hazvi Street, adjacent to Jerusalem's Tahana Merkazit or Central Bus Station and just a block away from the Magen David Adom ambulance station. He was rushed to Hadassah Ein Karem where it was reported that the 21 year old is in stable condition.

The attacker was fired on by a security guard who may or may not have hit him but did manage to subdue him until police arrived. We don't know his identity yet, or his age or home town, but the 'hero' posters which emerge from the Palestinian Arab martyrization industry should be taking care of that as we write these words. Meanwhile he's in police custody and being interrogated.

As often as such terrorist attacks happen, no one living in their midst gets used to them. There's reason to be concerned that this will not be the last such assault of the day.

14-Dec-15: Jerusalem transit hub again the target of vehicle-armed terrorist

Jerusalem's Herzl Boulevard via Google Maps/Street View: The attack was launched at people standing on the right, behind the buses. The Central Bus Station is 200 meters straight ahead

A Palestinian Arab identified as being from Jerusalem this afternoon plowed the car he was driving, a white Mazda sedan, into a crowd of commuters at a cluster of bus stops near the city's Central Bus Station and a hundred meters from the landmark Bridge of Chords at Jerusalem's main entrance.

It's reported that fourteen people are injured in this latest in a lengthy string of Arab-on-Israeli vehicle-ramming terror attacks, almost all them (like today's) directed specifically at civilians. This afternoon's Jerusalem victims include a toddler of 15 months, and a female in her seventies. Three victims are described as suffering moderate injuries; the injuries of the remainder are said to be light.

Though the toddler is reported as having injuries defined as moderate, they're not so moderate:

A one and a half-year-old baby [sic - we now know he is only 15 months old], who was moderately wounded and suffering an injury to his leg, was initially taken to Sha'are Zedek and later transferred to Hadassah in an effort to save his leg, where his condition deteriorated. [Ynet, December 14, 2015]

Times of Israel, in an evening update ["Doctors fight to save foot of baby hurt in terror attack"], says

Doctors at two main Jerusalem hospitals fought Monday afternoon to save the foot of a baby boy wounded a short time earlier... Speaking to Channel 2 television from Jerusalem’s Shaare Zedek Medical Center, where the boy was initially treated, one of the doctors there said there was a small chance of saving the 18-month-old baby’s foot. [Times of Israel, December 14, 2015]

The attacker, Abed el-Muhsen Hassuna [عبد المحسن حسونة], was 21 years old, and lived in the Beit Hanina neighbourhood of north Jerusalem. (Haaretz transliterates his name as Abed Almohsin Hassoneh.) Acting quickly in the spirit of these difficult, terror-infected times, and in accordance with orders that have wide support in this beleagured country, security personnel stationed nearby, as well as at least one armed civilian, shot him dead as he tried to exit the car.

Not so incidentally: a young woman with the same surname was killed by fast-reacting IDF shooters two weeks ago ["01-Dec-15: Tuesday's Arab-on-Israeli violence continued"] at a checkpoint next to the Einav community in the Samaria district. She was stopped in the act of carrying out a terror attack against Israelis. Times of Israel named her at the time as Maram Ramiz Hassouna, aged just 19, from Nablus.

Moments after the bus-stop vehicle-ramming terror attack [Image Source]

Inside today's attack vehicle, security people found an unused axe and a new screwdriver. Observers are in little doubt as to the would-be killer's lethal intentions:

Jerusalem District Police Chief Moshe Edri hailed the three shooters who brought the incident to an end. “Their quick and accurate action, which neutralized the terrorist, prevented a more serious attack,” he said. [Times of Israel, December 14, 2015] 

It's possible security cameras will have captured the attack which happened at the start of the afternoon rush hour, around 3:00 pm. For now, we know this, that Hassuna drove his car at high speed and very deliberately onto the sidewalk, smashing into pedestrians at one of several side-by-side bus stops on busy Herzl Boulevard just before the point where it meets the Central Bus Station and beside the city's International Conference Center (known locally as Binyanei Ha'uma). The attack car smashed a fire hydrant, sending a plume of water shooting into the air.

The Transport Ministry announced just yesterday that because of

the ongoing threat of terrorism in the nation’s capital, Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz on Sunday approved the deployment of 300 additional security guards for Jerusalem’s public transport... The guards and a number of security vehicles will be sent out to bus stops and Jerusalem Light Rail stops throughout the city. “The very deployment and correct use of the guards can bring the threat to a minimum and even prevent it,” Katz said. In the first few weeks of the ongoing violence, a similar group of guards and IDF soldiers were sent to protect Jerusalem’s public transportation system, but they were eventually taken off that duty. Now, however, they will return. The guards, all former combat soldiers, will be given uniforms, pistols and radios in order to protect passengers. They will also be given legal permission to conduct searches of those they determine to be potential security risks... [Times of Israel, December 13, 2015]

The European-funded Ma'an News Agency reporting from Bethlehem neatly prioritizes the victimhood of the cowardly vehicle-on-people attack via a headline that continues Ma'an's practice of self-parody:

"Palestinian shot dead, 11 injured in Jerusalem car ramming attack" [Ma'an, December 14, 2015].

The Arabic version of the same Ma'an story uses the word "martyr" to describe the man who drive his car into a defenseless crowd. But note that the English version cleverly adds this:

PLO Central Council member Muhammad Eshteyyah in a press conference last week said that 85 percent of Palestinian deaths to take place since Oct. 1 could have been prevented if the [Israeli] “shoot-to-kill” policy was not implemented.

Ma'an's highly ideological editors however are characteristically silent about how many lives might have been saved on both the attacker side and the victim side if the murder-lusting Palestinian Authority leadership discontinued its practice of praising the rammers, shooters and stabbers and stopped elevating them to "martyr" status.

The family and connections of Abed el-Muhsen Hassuna can be confident tonight that, as we write these lines, his promotion to the Palestinian Arab Hall of Fame is assured. If we see some of the expected wall posters praising his "bravery" and "national achievement", we will add them here.

UPDATE Tuesday December 15, 2015: The Jerusalem Post, quoting an un-named official source this morning, says the efforts to save the leg of the hospitalized fifteen month old victim we mentioned above have failed. And Hamas has claimed the attacker as one of theirs. The martyr posters are already up.

25-Nov-15: A stabber outside Jerusalem's main transit hub and how the mainstream media helped put him there

Jerusalem's main transit hub [Image Source]

On busy Jaffa Road in Jerusalem at the point where the city's main transit hub, the Central Bus Station, is located, a young Arab man was stopped yesterday (Tuesday) by the security guards who are stationed there to oversee the well-being of tens of thousands of locals and visitors who daily pass by or enter or exit the modern structure.

The young Arab was asked some urgent questions after a passer-by who noticed him walking along the light-rail tracks just opposite the station alerted them and said the fellow, aged (as we now know) 19, had been checking what appeared to be a knife concealed inside his coat. Knives inside coats are no longer a strange or rare thing here. They demand an instant response.

The Arab, a resident of the Jerusalem Old City, was promptly taken into custody. Times of Israel reports today that he was arrested and confessed to being there so as to carry out a terrorist attack on unsuspecting Israelis. A knife was indeed found hidden in his clothes during a body search.

Police said the suspect initially denied he was planning on using the knife to carry out a stabbing attack. He was later transferred to the Special Operations Squad in the Jerusalem District Police’s Central Unit for interrogation, where he admitted he intended to carry out a terrorist attack. He said he had taken the knife from his home before riding the light rail to the Central Bus Station, where he searched for an appropriate victim... [Times of Israel]

Hadil and Nurhan Awad, cousins, intending murderers, aspiring terrorists.
Ages 14 and 16. The backstory is the real story and it's unreported

This, along with the fast-rising toll - 75 stabbing attacks, 21 killed, about 190 injured - among Israeli victims of the wave of Arab savagery in the past few weeks - makes it incomprehensible to us that a report on a central Jerusalem stabbing attack can have been so poorly done by a leading British news channel.

Daily Mail Online prides itself on being one of the world's busiest web-based news sites. Checking now, we see their current daily "article views" for today is just under 28,000,000. Not too shabby. We can't say the same for the way they reported the matter of the two Palestinian Arab girls, cousins Hadil and Nurhan Awad, aged 14 and 16, from Qalandiya on Jerusalem's northern periphery. We described ["23-Nov-15: Central Jerusalem's shuk - two slashers attack and are stopped"] how they rode the light rail into central Jerusalem in order to launch a frenzied stabbing attack on innocent shoppers, using only two pairs of (absolutely deadly) scissors. They were stopped very forcefully, but only after doing serious damage and being caught in the act by security cameras. The Daily Mail's report is a classic of its kind: "Shocking moment two Israelis shoot Palestinian teenager dead and wound another after they threaten them with scissors in Jerusalem"

Shocking it is. Shocking that with 21 funerals of Israeli victims in the past few weeks of vicious thuggery, the Daily Mail's editors can allow an article to appear under a headline that focuses on the victimhood of a teenager killed by "Israelis" after she threatened them with scissors - with no indication in the headline of the frenzy of murderous stabbing attacks of similar kind happening all over this country.

And utterly shocking that the Daily Mail and most of the mainstream media have failed to focus attention on (a) the violent deaths of three Palestinian Arab children, each one of them aged 16, each one of them clutching sharp instruments in their fists, each one of them trying to kill innocent Israelis, each one of them shot dead by alert Israeli security, all killed in a single day - this past Monday; and (b) the shameful, hideous process, overseen by the Fatah/PLO/PA leadership under the unspeakable Mahmoud Abbas, of programming children to hate, to demonize and then - the logical consequence - to murder Jews.

These children didn't wake up with blood lust one morning out of the blue. It's the end-stage of a process that takes a huge, multi-dimensional effort, with education (school curriculum) and religion (the mosques) being the central components.

It's a tragedy that so few serious reporters and their editors see the recounting of this process as core to the reporting of the current Arab-on-Israeli barbarism and to the ongoing child-abuse conducted by Palestinian Arab society at all its levels (including the most senior). It's hard not to see reporters and their editors as complicit in this process.