25-Mar-16: In Jerusalem, another 15 year old, another knife

French Hill: the commercial center at the top, the university and the hospital
behind the point from where the photo was taken [Image Source]

Yet another stabbing attack, yet again in Jerusalem, yet again a fifteen year old attacker, yet again she's a girl.

At the end of the lethal assault, she's alive though likely to be facing a changed life in the immediate future.

This Friday afternoon, Friday and Purim in Jerusalem (though nowhere else in the world), a unit of Border Police (Mishmar Hagviul) officers standing next to a gas station in the French Hill neighborhood which abuts both the Hebrew University's Mt Scopus campus and the Isawiya neighborhood, watched as an Arab girl approached them.

At some point, she pulled out a knife and began to slash at whoever she could strike. The Border Guard personnel overpowered her without shots being fired, and she is now arrested and being questioned. Times of Israel states rather laconically: "There were no injuries during the incident." That, it's fair to surmise, was not the Arab girl's intent. Alive and undamaged, she is luckier than she probably realizes.

A report in the Arabic-language service of the Ma'an News Agency correctly identifies her a child, though it leaves readers in doubt as to whether she actually did anything or was simply framed by the cruel Israelis. Questions worth asking, it unfortunately fails to ask. Which school had she been attending? Are the members of her family politically aligned? Is she friends or relatives with any of the other Arab children who have launched stabbing attacks on Israelis in recent months? It will be interesting to see if anyone asks them in future news reports. Those are core pieces of missing information that, if they were disclosed, would help reveal the scale of the ongoing weaponization of Palestinian Arab children in which the "moderate" PA is engaged.

That French Hill gas station was ransacked and almost destroyed by rioting Arabs in 2014 [link]. The neighbourhood itself has a history of inter-community tensions though it is somewhat mixed with a growing number of Arabs having bought apartments in the mostly Jewish section.

This, according to parts of the anti-Israel propaganda industry, never happens, but in reality of course it does.

French Hill with its busy shopping center and numerous restaurants is a short walk away from the Mt Scopus campus of Hadassah Medical Center, and of the Hebrew University as well as close to Jerusalem's Light Rail which provides a rapid transit solution into the center of Israel's capital for the thousands of Arabs living in the city's northern Arab-majority suburbs.

29-Apr-15: Almost entirely unreported, violent Arab attacks in and on Jerusalem

Jerusalem's Light Rail serves Arab neighbourhoods of the city but
is attacked almost daily by rock-hurling Palestinian Arabs [Image Source]

Traveling outside Israel (which is what we were doing for the past week) puts you in a position where news reports of the daily acts of violence in this ongoing war are liable to pass almost without being noticed.

Here are some notes (based on news items originally published by Israel National News and a handful of other sources) on events of the past week that, like us, you might not have picked up.

April 25, 2015 (Saturday)

• A 17-year-old Palestinian Arab attacked security personnel manning two checkpoints near Ma’ale Adumim. He was armed with a meat-cleaver and a knife. The attack was foiled when he was shot and killed.
• A Palestinian Arab, a resident of the Jerusalem neighbourhood of Shuafat, drove his car directly at four Israelis standing at the location known as the Kohanim Route in the village of A-Tur, part of Jerusalem, on Saturday night. A woman in her twenties suffered moderate injuries (though we see the Jerusalem Post said she is in critical condition. The injuries of three other people were defined as light. The vehicle was founded abandoned later the same night, and following an intensive police search, the driver was found and arrested.
• Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat was driving to the scene of the attack the same evening when his vehicle came under a hail of rocks hurled by people from the roadside. The mayor's car was damaged, but there are fortunately no injuries to report. 
• Not far from Jerusalem, on Route 443, the road that connects north Jerusalem with the Tel Aviv metropolitan area and with the new city of Modi'in in-between, a Kavim commuter bus was firebombed on Saturday night. Fortunately there were no passengers on board and the drive was unhurt. One source reports that security forces located a second firebomb nearby, evidently prepared and about to be hurled at something in the vicinity.

April 26, 2015 (Sunday)

• A security guard was attacked during the evening while he was standing, evidently on duty, at a bus stop in the community of Eli. The purpose of the attack, carried out by a 19-year-old Palestinian Arab resident of Nablus, appears to have been to steal the security man's weapon. The attacker was replled, and handed over to the police.
• In a second weapons-related attack, an Arab prisoner serving time in Ketziot Prison on terror charges, and for being a member of Islamic Jihad, a prohibited terror organization, attempted to grab the gun of a security guard by coming at him armed with a can opener. The guard's face suffered lacerations, but he managed to subdue the prisoner. The Arab is now in solitary confinement, and will be charged with attacking a guard.
• Outside the ancient Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron around 6:15 pm, a serving member of the Border Police suffered stab wounds to the head and upper body, and left in moderate condition, after coming under knife attack by a Palestinian Arab, Assad al-Salayma, 20. The attacker was shot dead on the spot by other officers. 
• Arab rock-throwers attacked the Jerusalem Light Rail while it was passing through the Shuafat, Jerusalem, neighbourhood. There are no injuries but one of the tram cars was damaged. Attacks on the Light Rail's 23 vehicles have become an almost daily occurrence.
• Rioting continued in the A-Tur neighborhood, close to where the tram was attacked. Rocks and fire-bombs were hurled at police and security personnel.

And a postscript to an earlier report we posted here: "17-Apr-15: In the aftermath of another lethal car-ramming in Jerusalem". The driver of the vehicle in that attack, which resulted in the killing of a young man, Shalom Yohai Cherki, 25, and the injuring of the young woman who was standing at the French Hill bus stop with him, has now confessed:

Khaled Koutineh confessed to carrying out the vehicular terrorist attack last Wednesday, the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day,” the authorities said in a statement. “Koutineh confessed to carrying out the attack with the intention of harming Jews, a decision he made just moments before the actual deed,” the statement read. The authorities said that Koutineh was driving along Route 1, searching for Jews on the side of the road to run over. Eventually, he came upon a junction in French Hill and targeted the bus stop. Koutineh initially told interrogators that he had suffered from mental imbalances, though authorities said he admitted to concocting the alibi in hopes of evading a stiff penalty. [Jerusalem Post, April 21, 2015]

Most people, even those who think of themselves as careful readers of news from the Middle East and well informed on the Arab/Israel conflict, have no idea any of these events happened.

17-Apr-15: In the aftermath of another lethal car-ramming in Jerusalem

The driver is now arrested

Wednesday night's car-ramming of Israeli commuters standing at a French Hill, Jerusalem, bus stop [reported here] has resulted in the arrest of the driver of the ramming vehicle.

The Jerusalem Post says Khaled Koutineh, a 37 year-old Palestinian Arab resident of the village of Anata, east of Jerusalem, "was motivated by nationalistic reasons to drive his vehicle" into Shalom Yohai Cherki, 25, and Shira Klein, 20. The two were standing together at the French Hill bus stop on Haim Bar Lev Boulevard in north Jerusalem. Cherki, son of a prominent family, suffered severe traumatic head trauma and died soon after the attack. Shira Klein is fighting for her life in hospital. The vehicle driven by the accused struck them at high speed.

A statement last night [Thursday] by Israel Police indicated that the car-ramming was likely an act of terror. Today's report, after the police interrogation had gone on for some hours, said there was cause to believe

that Khaled Koutineh, 37, from Anata, was motivated by nationalistic reasons to drive his vehicle into Cherki and Shira Klein, who is in her 20s, and remains hospitalized. “After the suspect was questioned, the preliminary findings reinforced that the incident was an attack; however, the investigation is continuing,” police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said on Thursday. Koutineh was arraigned at Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court earlier in the day, where a judge extended his remand through Monday. His lawyer, Nasser Massis, claimed that Koutineh is not a terrorist, but rather lost control of the vehicle due to inclement driving conditions. “My client denied all involvement in criminal activity. [He] claim[s] this was a normal traffic accident that was not unreasonable given the circumstances,” Massis said. “There was heavy rainfall and the defendant believes the court will ultimately release him.”

The alleged attacker's wife explained [Times of Israel] her husband's innocence. He had left his house at around 10 p.m. Wednesday to drive his parents to their home in Jerusalem’s Old City and the accident was "caused by the bad weather at the time... He has no political awareness. He doesn’t even watch the news,” she said."

UPDATE April 30, 2015: Police released video footage today showing just how politically unaware the driver was: view it here. Khaled Koutineh has confessed to carrying out the car-ramming attack. A criminal indictment against him was filed in Jerusalem on Monday April 27, 2015.

16-Apr-15: At a bus stop stop in Jerusalem's French Hill on Holocaust Memorial Day, two lives upended

Around 11 on Wednesday night, we posted this to our Twitter account:

French Hill quarter, Jerusalem - sounds of police, ambulance activity; initial reports of suspected terror attack: Holocaust Memorial Day
— This Ongoing War (@ThisOngoingWar) April 15, 2015

Those first reports were unclear, though the sounds of emergency vehicles - clearly heard in our part of Israel's capital at a late hour - conveyed urgency and danger. There is still no confirmation from the authorities that what happened was a calculated act of terror via lethal vehicle. But the indications that it was are significant.

From Haaretz this morning ["Israeli man dies after possible Jerusalem car ramming attack"]:

Palestinian driver has been detained as part of the investigation; Police probing terror motives | Nir Hasson | April 16, 2015 | An Israeli man died Thursday morning of injuries sustained after being struck by a car in Jerusalem the previous night. The victim has been identified as Shalom Yohai Sherki, 25. He was the son of Rabbi Uri Sherki and [brother of] Channel 2 correspondent, Yair Sherki. The driver, a Palestinian, has been detained by police. Police and the Shin Bet security service were investigationg the incident and trying to determine whether the attack was intentional.They have not ruled out the possibility that it was an accident... Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat arrived at the scene Wednesday night along with heavy police forces and emergency crew. The incident occurred on Route 1, not far from some of the car ramming attacks in Jerusalem in recent months.

Those attacks were acts of terror beyond any doubt. We reported on two here just last month ["07-Mar-15: For some, but only some, Friday's Jerusalem ramming/slashing was yet another terror attack" and "06-Mar-15: Jerusalem, Purim and terror... once again"]

Shalom Yochai Sherki Z"L

Israel National News tells us more about one of the victims:

Son of Prominent Rabbi Victim in Possible 'Car Terror' Incident | The Israeli killed when he and a companion were hit by an Arab driver is Shalom Yohai Sherki, the son of the well-known Rabbi Uri Sherki | Moshe Cohen | First Publish: 4/16/2015, 9:00 AM
The Israeli killed Wednesday night when he and a companion were hit by an Arab driver is Shalom Yohai Sherki, the son of the popular Rabbi Uri Sherki, and brother of Channel Two journalist Yair Sherki. Shalom studied at the Bnei Tzvi Torani yeshiva high school in Beit El and was employed there as a youth counselor after his IDF service. The 25 year old victim's funeral will be held Thursday, the family said.
Still in critical condition is a second victim, a female around 20 years of age. Doctors are fighting to save her life. The two were hit late Wednesday by an Arab driver from Jerusalem, who slammed into the two at a bus stop in the French Hill area of Jerusalem. Police questioned the suspect overnight, and suspect that terror might have been the motive of the driver, who sought to kill Jews on the eve of Holocaust Memorial Day, police sources said. The suspect is to be transferred to the Shabak for questioning Thursday. The suspect was slightly injured in the incident, and was treated at the site by Magen David Adom volunteers.
Rabbi Uri Sherki is well-known in Religious Zionist circles. A close student of Rabbi Zvi Yehuda Kook, he is head of the Israeli student department in Machon Meir and rabbi of the Beit Yehuda synagogue. Born in Algeria, Rabbi Sherki, was raised in France, and is a popular figure among French Jews. His Torah lectures often focus on Philosophy and Religion. Yair Sherki is the religious affairs correspondent for Channel Two... 

Today, Holocaust Memorial Day (the 27th day of the month of Nissan) is when Jews reflect on the hatred that costs lives and futures.

8-Sep-06: Following Up the Almost-Entirely Unreported Story of Yet Another Stabbing

On 5th September, just a few days ago, we wrote about a stabbing in the Atarot industrial zone, not far from our north Jerusalem home.

Today it's reported that a Fatah operative, Ramaz Da'ar Haj, 24, from the village of Beituniya near Ramallah, was apprehended Tuesday. The Jerusalem Post says he had worked at two factories in the zone, had planned the attack well in advance, telling investigators that he had repeatedly practiced stabbing on his bedroom mattress.

Haj told investigators that he planned to carry out an attack on a Jew a year and a half ago in the city's northern French Hill neighborhood but changed his mind after encountering police in the area. On the morning of the attack, he came upon the factory worker and stabbed him in the shoulder from behind. The attacker had also concealed a second knife in the sole of his shoe, planning to stab his police investigators as well.

If, like us, you search for the terms "Palestinian" + "Unemployment" on Google News right now, this minute, you'll get 376 hits. The very first of them starts like this:

Some 75 percent of Palestinians live in poverty while there is a 65 percent unemployment rate...

It's from Socialist Worker Online, and there's nothing on that site about a 63 year-old proletarian Israeli being stabbed by a "desperate", terrorism-minded thug, strangely enough. Many of the other Google News results are along similar lines.

Meanwhile (as you can see from the picture at right, above) other Fatah operatives spent today trashing (again) the Palestinian parliament building in Gaza City. Thousands of them, well armed with expensive, high-power weapons that the PA say they can't afford, smashed windows in a violent protest on the fourth day of a strike called by Mahmoud Abbas over non-payment of civil service salaries.

Stabbing Israelis in the handful of industrial zones which employ Palestinian workers is a sure way to get those salaries paid.