20-Apr-19: At Tapuah Junction, a stabbing attacker is thwarted

Here in Israel, we have just completed the first day of the week-long Pesach festival. It was also the Sabbath. But Arab-on-Israeli terrorism doesn't take holidays.

Haaretz reported this morning on a thwarted attack:

Israeli security forces shot and wounded a Palestinian man on Saturday attempting to carry out a stabbing attack in the West Bank, Border Police said, reporting no further wounded in the incident.
A 20-year-old resident of Saniriya, a village in the northern West Bank, approached a Border Police outpost at the Tapuah Junction and "behaved suspiciously," according to the Israel Police spokesperson.
According to the statement, policemen began pursuing the suspect on foot. Another policeman driving nearby spotted the chase and blocked the suspect with his car.
The suspect then pulled out a knife and tried opening the car door in an attempt to stab the policeman inside, who then shot and wounded him, said the statement.
It was initially reported the suspect had died at the scene. However, he was evacuated in critical condition by the Israeli army for medical attention.

Saniriya is an Arab village of roughly 3,000 people located in Samaria. Times of Israel says the attacker was taken to Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikva for emergency treatment. Beilinson is a major Israeli medical facility, part of the world-renowned Rabin Medical Center.

The European-funded Maan News Agency reporting from Bethlehem doesn't actually dispute any of what Haaretz reports. Instead it adopts its traditional disingenuous tone (in the English-language version - there's no Arabic report at this hour) according to which Israeli forces injured "a Palestinian who was passing by the checkpoint... claiming that he attempted to carry out a stabbing attack against Israeli soldiers deployed at the Zaatara checkpoint south of the northern occupied West Bank district of Nablus".

So: just another innocent Palestinian Arab passer-by mugged by Israeli reality. Here's a photo of the knife he was clutching.

The checkpoint that Ma'an's editors call Zaatara is better known as Tapuah Junction, site of many previous Arab-on-Israeli attacks (click to view some of our previous Tapuah posts).

And Nablus, which Ma'an calls "Israeli-occupied", is in reality controlled by the Abbas/Fatah Palestinian Authority, having been "handed over to the Palestinian National Authority on December 12, 1995, as a result of the Oslo Accords Interim Agreement" [Wikipedia].

A poster on social media [Twitter] calls the "passer-by" Omar Awni Younes (the Younes clan are a large part of the Saniriya population) and quotes a post uploaded by him this morning: "this is a jihad, victory or martyrdom".

15-Oct-18: Monday noon: Another Arab-on-Israeli stabbing attack in Samaria

The scene of today's attack [Image Source: Hamodia and Reuters]

In the third terror attack to have taken place in Israel's Samaria District over the past eight days, a Palestinian Arab man armed with a stabbing implement was thwarted in his efforts around noon today (Monday).

He was permanently prevented from completing his terrorist mission.

The attack site is a short distance away from the Israeli city of Ariel on the heavily-traveled Highway 5.

As reported by Times of Israel:

A Palestinian man was shot dead by Israeli forces Monday during an attempt to stab a soldier at the Gitai Junction in the northern West Bank, the army said. No Israeli troops were injured in the incident and the Israel Defense Forces said it has opened an investigation. Several hours after the attempted stabbing, the Kan public broadcaster reported that the assailant was a resident of Biddya, the same hometown as a 47-year-old Palestinian mother of eight who was killed late Friday night when a rock was hurled at her car in the northern West Bank.

From Ynet:

A Palestinian would-be terrorist tried to stab a soldier standing at a bus stop at the Gitai Avishar Junction on Highway 5 in the northern West Bank on Monday and was shot dead by soldiers from the Artillery Corps' 55th Battalion, who were on the scene. No Israeli troops hurt. The Gitai Avishar Junction is a busy and central intersection on the highway linking the settlement of Ariel to central Israel. Hundreds of Palestinian workers travel through the junction on their way to Israel to work. The junction was also the site of several attacks in the past, and is constantly guarded by two soldiers, who were the ones to shoot and neutralize the terrorist... An IDF reservist soldier was moderately wounded and a civilian woman was lightly wounded in a stabbing attack Thursday outside the Samaria Territorial Brigade base. The terrorist was able to escape initially, but was captured several days later. Last Sunday, terrorist Ashraf Na'alwa murdered two Israelis—Kim Levengrond Yehezkel, 28, and Ziv Hagbi, 35—in a shooting attack in the Barkan industrial zone. He is still at large.

The usual Arab channels are publicizing the attacker's name and portrait. His face can be seen here. One Arab source [here] names him as Elias Saleh Yassin from Biddya, and says he was 22 years old. It refers to him as "martyr".

Praise from Hamas was not long in coming:

"The martyrdom of Elias was a response to the crime of the settlers against the martyr Aisha Al-Rabi of the same town. It affirms the right of our people to defend themselves and resist the occupation that assaults humans and land with American support and international silence." Hamas tells "the resistance" to "continue this path that the enemy does not understand... the shortest way to liberate from occupation and to acquire the rights and the building of our Palestinian state." [Arabic source]

The propaganda-centric Ma'an News Agency headlines the English-language edition of its report on today's failed stabbing attack with this: "Palestinian shot dead after alleged stabbing attack near Salfit". Its Arabic edition by contrast is more expansive and less shy: "A martyr tried to stab soldiers north of the West Bank".  The use of the word "martyr" in Arabic-language reporting is a core element in the ongoing Arab incitement to more and worse Arab-on-Israeli terrorist violence.

It is unconscionable that Ma'an's work is funded by European governments [see "09-Jul-15: When incitement to murder is financed by foreign aid, where will the accounting come from?"]

11-Oct-18: In Israel's Samaria district, an Arab-on-Israeli stabbing this afternoon

There's been another Arab-on-Israeli stabbing attack today.

Two Israelis are injured, one in serious condition, after an attacker, evidently a Palestinian Arab, standing at an Israeli bus stop near the IDF's Shomron Regional Brigade headquarters close to the community of Itamar, pulled a "huge knife" (according to an Israel National News report) at about 1:30 pm. He stabbed an Israeli reservist of about 30 and then fled from the scene. He has not yet been apprehended.

(We wrote about another stabbing attack at what sounds like the same spot in January 2016 - see this post.)

Times of Israel says IDF soldiers at the scene opened fire in the attacker's direction:

Shrapnel from the shots struck the woman in the leg. The stabber may have fled in a waiting car nearby, Hadashot TV news said.

The woman caught in the cross-fire is reportedly 26 and her leg injuries are not life-threatening. Both victims were taken to Rabin Medical Center/Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikva for emergency care. (It's the largest ER facility in Israel.)

Many Arab-on-Israeli stabbings over the past two years have involved the knifers aiming for the upper parts of their victims' bodies, and so it was this afternoon. The male victim suffered stab wounds to the face and the upper torso. He was conscious when brought to hospital.

Consistent with the shabby, unprofessional way it reports on Arab-on-Israeli terror, the European-funded Ma'an News Agency 'knows' ["Israeli soldier, settler injured in stabbing attack, suspect flees", today] that the woman victim is a "settler". In fact, her identity and certainly her home address, remain unpublicized. Calling her a settler is a knowing act of incitement to terror; for the practitioners of Maan-style lethal journalism, all Israelis are "settlers".

One report ["Israeli Army Reservist Wounded in West Bank Stabbing Attack", Haaretz, today] says the knifer fled toward Huwara, a Palestinian village near Nablus. It says the IDF has set up dozens of roadblocks around the town and soldiers were carrying out checks, causing "large traffic jams" in the area.

The alleged stabber is taken into custody on Thursday
night [Image Source]

UPDATE 12:05 am Friday October 12, 2018: Times of Israel says the attacker has been apprehended. He is un-named at this stage but reported to be a 19-year-old male from the Muslim village of Jamma’in (population about 7,000), about 16 km south of Nablus in Samaria. He is currently helping the Israeli security authorities with their enquiries. Hamas, according to Wikipedia, is the dominant political force in the town. A Hamas announcement [here in Arabic] says Thursday's stabbing attack at a bus stop is "a slap to the occupation and failure of its security system... the operation comes in the context of our people's response to the arrogance of the occupation and its continuous violations against our people and our holy sites".

UPDATE 12:30 pm Friday October 12, 2018: A Palestinian Arab source names the arrested suspect as Muaz Qassem Hussein, age 19. They publish his photo here.

UPDATE 11:15 pm Monday October 15, 2018: From Ynet:

The IDF released footage from the security cameras showing the stabbing terror attack at the bus stop outside the Samaria Territorial Brigade base in the West Bank, which last Thursday left an IDF reservist moderately wounded and a civilian woman slightly hurt. In a video released Monday, the reservist, who is reported to be in his thirties, is seen standing on the side of the road next to a civilian, when the terrorist suddenly emerges from behind and proceeds to chase after the soldier with a knife. After a struggle between the two, which lasts several seconds, the civilian at the bust stop is seen escaping the area and two other soldiers arrive at the scene and aim their weapons at the fleeing terrorist.

The video is here.

16-Aug-18: The victim of an Arab-on-Israeli vehicle-ramming tonight is a young woman [Multiple UPDATES]

Israel National News has reported tonight (Thursday) that an Israeli woman was killed in a vehicle-ramming attack in Israel's Samaria district:

A young woman in her 20s was murdered in a ramming terrorist attack that took place Thursday night near Havat Gilad in Samaria. Magen David Adom paramedics attempted to resuscitate the victim, but were forced to declare her death. The assailant fled the scene. IDF forces began searching the area. In January, Rabbi Raziel Shevach of Havat Gilad was murdered in a drive-by shooting attack.

We hope they're wrong about her condition. Times of Israel describes the victim as being alive but in  a very bad way. A MaarivOnline tweet says the attack happened at 9:32 pm tonight.

We wrote about how six more Israeli children - Renana, 10; Naomi, 8; Miriam, 6; Malka, 5; Ovadia, 3; and Benayahu, 10 months - all from Havat Gil'ad, became orphans in that January 2018 vehicle ramming at the same spot as tonight's - see "10-Jan-18: Hamas praises a murderous drive-by shooting that orphans six young Israeli children". The attacker was eliminated in a shoot-out with Israeli security forces a few weeks after that ramming murder.

Sorry to say, Ynet says tonight's Israeli victim has died. It adds

"The driver fled the scene, with the IDF suspected he escaped to the nearby Palestinian village of Jit."

UPDATE: At the Jerusalem Post in a report published around 10:20 pm tonight, they're not sure if this was a terror attack:

An Israeli woman was killed in a hit-and-run incident near the Havat Gilad outpost in the Samaria region of the West Bank. It was not immediately clear if it was a vehicular attack or a car accident. The woman was hit as she crossed Route [blank] near the outpost. The car appeared to be a Palestinian taxi, which fled the scene...  According to KAN Radio, the Palestinian driver was afraid to stop. He drove straight to the nearby Palestinian city of Nablus and turned himself into the police there, where he clarified that the incident was an accident. A Magen David Adom paramedic said that the woman was found unconscious in a ditch and had sustained massive injuries. She was not breathing nor did she have a heart beat, the paramedic said. They were unable to revive her and she was declared dead at the scene.

UPDATE Friday August 17, 2018  at 7:00 am: According to a Times of Israel update, the victim is a woman "in her forties" from the Israeli community of Emmanuel. Her name is not yet published as "some family members were still being sought to notify them of the death".

UPDATE Friday August 17, 2018 at 2:00 pm: The Israeli victim struck in last night's incident is named today as 42-year-old Hava Roizen. Roizen was struck by the vehicle on Route 60, near the Havat Gilad outpost. She was declared dead by the Magen David Adom ambulance service after paramedics were unable to resuscitate her. Times of Israel says 

Following a preliminary investigation, the army said it was “highly likely” that the fatal crash was a hit-and-run incident rather than a terror attack. The driver fled the scene and was later spotted near the Palestinian village of Jit where he turned himself in to Palestinian Authority police. A senior PA official told the Times of Israel the driver was a 63-year-old male who insisted what happened had been an accident and not an attack. The official added that the man would remain in the custody of the PA police and would be dealt with by the PA judicial system. “I was afraid that if I stopped they would kill me, so I fled,” the driver told Palestinian police, according to Hebrew media reports.  Roizen was a resident of the small ultra-Orthodox settlement of Emmanuel...  An immigrant from the former Soviet Union, Roizen worked as a photographer, frequently hitchhiking around the country to events, an Emmanuel resident [said] “She was incredibly dedicated to her job. She’d travel wherever it was necessary, and I’d often see her returning to Emmanuel at very late hours,” he said, referring to Roizen and her husband as humble people.While military sources said the preliminary investigation found that the incident was a hit-and-run, they had not definitely ruled out the possibility that it was a terror attack.

As to whether terror was involved, the chairman of the Shomron Regional Council Yossi Dagan is quoted:

"From the point of view of the military commanders in the field, and from our point of view as well, this is a terror attack for all intents and purposes,” he claimed. The settler leader pointed out that the junction is well lit and that there were no skid marks or other signs that the driver had tried to come to a sudden halt. “This is another terror attack, a cold-blooded murder of a Samaria resident on a central road in the State of Israel.”

UPDATE Wednesday September 12, 2018
Times of Israel reports today that the Palestinian Arab driver of the vehicle that allegedly struck Hava Roizen and killed her

was indicted Wednesday for a hit-and-run, ruling out speculations of a terror motive in the incident. The death... last month was initially reported as a possible car-ramming attack, though police said at the time that it was more likely to have been an accident. The indictment against Kamal Kadari, 60, was filed at the IDF’s Samaria Military Court, charging him with negligent homicide and abandoning the scene of an accident, the Kan public radio broadcaster reported. Kadari, who turned himself in to the Palestinian Authority police after the incident, remains in PA custody... Kadari, who had five passengers in his car at the time, did not notice the Israeli woman in the road, the report said... Kadari fled the scene and was later spotted near the Palestinian village of Jit, where he gave himself up to PA police.

16-Mar-18 [UPDATED]: An Arab-on-Israeli vehicle ramming in the Samarian hills Friday afternoon; tragic results

This screen shot from a video clip taken at the scene and uploaded to the
Hebrew-language rotter.com site shows the attack vehicle, a relatively new
SUV with severe damage from striking multiple human beings,
killing some of them

Reports a short time ago, just before Shabbat starts, say there has been what seems like yet another Arab-on-Israeli vehicle-ramming attack, this time with disastrous consequences. The precise details seem still, at 5:00 pm, to be cloudy. We will update once we have firmer information.

Times of Israel says a Palestinian Arab driving on Route 585 close to the entrance to the Israeli community of Mevo Dotan (population: about 400) in the north Samarian hills, has plowed into four Israeli service personnel, all around 20 years old. There are also reports saying five. All are said to be in a bad way.

Israel National News says two of the Israelis are dead (but this is not confirmed yet). It appears two others are in serious condition.

The driver is evidently (though not confirmed) in Israeli custody.

Ynet says it's not yet clear whether the ramming was deliberate or accidental. It describes the driver as 26, from the Arab town of Barta'a in the Wadi Ara region. He is said to have light-to-moderate injuries and is being treated at the scene.

But the Jerusalem Post, in reporting on what happened, connects it to today being yet another in an endless series of organized seriously-violent tantrums. It says

Clashes between Palestinian protesters and Israeli security forces were reported on Friday afternoon as the Palestinians mark “100 days of rage” following US President’s Trump decision to move the US embassy to Jerusalem, channel 10 reported. 

UPDATE Saturday March 17, 2018 after sundown: The Palestinian Arab "resistance" reminds us that what they are about has much more to do with blood-lust and bigotry than with building something good for themselves. Times of Israel reports:

• The Palestinian Authority has so far said nothing official about the killings.
• "Several Palestinian terror groups and activists on Friday praised the “heroic” car-ramming attack in which two IDF solders were killed near Jenin, saying it was an “appropriate” response to US President Donald Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
• "While no group claimed direct responsibility for the terror attack, it came after Palestinian groups had called for Friday to be a “day of rage,” in response to Trump’s December decision.
• Hamas said: “This heroic and courageous operation underscores our people’s insistence on pursuing the path of resistance”. One of its spokespersons Abdel Latif al-Qanua, said the “heroic operation underlines the vitality and continuity of the intifada, and our people’s rejection of the US decision on Jerusalem.” Another, Sami Abu Zuhri, said that the terrorist attack was a “message” to those who have been calling on his terror group to lay down its weapons. “It is also a message to the effect that there is no future for those who conduct security cooperation,” he said, referring to the cooperation between the Palestinian Authority forces in the West Bank and the IDF.
• Palestinian Islamic Jihad, another Palestinian Arab terror group, said the attack was a response to  “Zionist terrorism” and called for more attacks to “foil the Zionist-American plot to obliterate the Palestinian cause.”
• Speaking for the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, one of the terrorist outfits operating under  the umbrella of the PLO, Talal Abu Zarifeh said the vehicle-ramming was a “natural response to Israeli crimes” and a sign that the uprising was continuing.
• Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, also part of the PLO, said Friday's murderous attack had “trampled Trump’s decision on Jerusalem – 100 days since he announced it.”
• Palestinian Arab sources have named the vehicle rammer as Ala Qabha, 26. The Times of Israel report says he is injured, was taken to hospital for treatment, and will be interrogated there. His family say the lethal ramming attack "was an accident and not an attack, with one relative telling Haaretz that the young man was a painter, and had been on his way home from Jenin after buying supplies. “He’s not politically affiliated and doesn’t belong to any organization,” he said." But it also quotes Haaretz saying that Qabha was serving time in an Israeli prison until April 2017. The Hadashot news service he had been imprisoned for security-related activities.
• A second Palestinian Arab male was treated by the Palestinian Red Crescent. We don't know at this stage how he was involved.
• As we wrote on Friday, two of the Israeli victims have died. Another, a soldier, suffered severe head trauma and is fighting for his life. 
• A second soldier is in serious condition.

UPDATE Saturday March 17, 2018 at 7:45 pm: From Ynet:

"Meanwhile, Shin Bet released a statement Saturday evening saying that while the terrorist initially insisted the attack was merely an accident, he confessed under interrogation to having acted under nationalistic motives. Kabha's brother remains in custody and the degree of his potential involvement in the attack is still being investigated. Shin Bet added that no other persons involved in the attack or aware of Kabha's intentions were known at present, meaning he was a "lone wolf" terrorist acting without the guidance of a terror group."

Under the Palestinian Authority's Martyrs Fund (in dozens of our posts we refer to it as the PA Rewards for Terror scheme) rules, this renders him qualified to start receiving reward payments. These send a signal to Palestinian Arab society that what the attacker did is precisely the kind of action that the PA leadership needs, wants, encourages and finances.

UPDATE Sunday March 18, 2018 at 9:00 am:
The names of the two young Israelis killed in Friday's ramming-by-terrorist attack have been released, now that the families have been notified. They are Captain Ziv Daos, 21, from Azor, near Tel Aviv, who was a platoon commander in a Home Front Command search and rescue unit; and Sergeant Netanel Kahalani, 20, from Elyakim in northern Israel, a driver in the Menashe Regional Brigade. He was promoted to the rank of sergeant.

28-Jan-18: In Itamar tonight, two uniformed infiltrators are thwarted

One of tonight's two suspected
infiltrators, healthy and well and
being interrogated [Image Source]

The armed security, cameras and boom gates that are a regular feature of almost every Israeli community in Judea and Samaria are there for pragmatic and fully-justified reasons. Those are on public display this evening as news emerges around 7 Sunday evening of a thwarted terrorist infiltration in Samaria.

According to JPost.com, a Palestinian Arab was arrested this evening outside Itamar

and searches are being carried out for another suspect on suspicion that the two tried to enter the village wearing IDF-style uniforms, according to the Itamar Security Team.

From Times of Israel:

Army foils attempt by 2 Palestinians in IDF uniforms to infiltrate settlementArmy says one of the suspects captured but was apparently not armed, while troops search for the other around Itamar in the northern West Bank
January 28, 2018 | 8:13 pm
A pair of Palestinians dressed in IDF uniforms tried to infiltrate a Jewish settlement in the northern West Bank on Sunday, the army said. One of the suspects, who was detained by IDF troops near Itamar, had a pair of binoculars, but no weapons. Troops were interrogating the suspect who was caught in order to determine whether the pair had been attempting to carry out a terror attack or had criminal motive, Hadashot TV news reported. Soldiers were scouring the area between the settlement and the Palestinian village of Beit Furik for the second suspect, the army said.

Infiltrators dressed in IDF uniforms are a frightening thought. But as the photo above indicates, and with due respect to the news sources that claimed otherwise, it's not at all clear to us that these two Arabs in khaki were wearing IDF uniforms. Whether they had terror on their minds is also still a question though it's obvious their presence inside Itamar was not intended to benefit the local residents. (We're certainly not casting doubt on the need for tonight's intruders to be stopped and apprehended, whatever their agenda.)

Israel National News says the infiltration attempt was done via Itamar's back entrance - and local authorities in the area have instructed residents to stay in their homes for now until the second suspected terrorist is found and taken into custody.

Itamar, an Israeli community located about 5 kilometers south-east of Nablus/Shechem that was first settled in 1984, has a population of about 1,200. Nearly seven years ago, we wrote ["19-Apr-11: What happened that awful Sabbath night in Itamar?"] of the hideous massacre by Palestinian Arab terrorists of five members of the Fogel family, residents of the community. Wikipedia notes that

Itamar and its residents have been targeted several times by Palestinians terrorists in the past, three such incidents taking place between May and July 2002, a fourth in August 2004 and another [the Fogel atrocity] in 2011, which have caused more than a dozen deaths...

UPDATE Monday January 29, 2018 at 10:00 am: The search for the second thwarted intruder continues this morning but there have been some developments. Times of Israel reports:

Soldiers combing the area where two Palestinians apparently tried to sneak into a West Bank settlement found six Molotov cocktails, the army said Monday. The incendiaries were discovered near the settlement of Itamar... near the area where the two Palestinians were spotted, the army said. It said searches were ongoing. The army said Sunday night it was investigating if the Palestinians had planned to attack Israelis. The suspect who was caught had a pair of binoculars, but no weapons, the IDF said.

A Palestinian Arab news source, WAFA, says

"Clashes erupted on Sunday night in Beit Furik, to the east of Nablus, following an Israeli army raid of the village, according to Palestinian security sources... Soldiers raided the village after allegedly arresting a Palestinian believed to be from Beit Furik near the illegal settlement of Itamar. The army claimed the Palestinian was wearing army uniform. Another one got away, said the army."

23-Jan-18: Arab-on-Israeli stabbing attack at Tapuah Junction

Uploaded to social media from the scene of
the thwarted attack [Image Source]

There are initial reports via the Hebrew-language social media that there has been an Arab-on-Israeli stabbing in the past few minutes (it's now 1:25 pm Tuesday) at Tapuah Junction. The location has been the scene of many previous violent acts of terror (click "Tapuah" to see our previous posts).

The first indications are that two attackers were involved, and that they were stopped - by means of either IDF or Israeli security personnel gunfire to the lower parts of their bodies - from inflicting injuries on their intended victims. Both are alive and in custody.

An initial bulletin via Ynet says:

They were neutralized by Border Policemen who were on the scene. One was shot and wounded, the other was overpowered and apprehended without the use of fire.

The attackers meant to cause serious harm to Israelis (any Israelis - everyone knows how terror works) and failed. To those who stopped them, well done!

More details when we get them.

10-Jan-18: Hamas praises a murderous drive-by shooting that orphans six young Israeli children

Today's funeral in Havat Gilad [Image Source]

Six more Israeli children - Renana, 10; Naomi, 8; Miriam, 6; Malka, 5; Ovadia, 3; and Benayahu, 10 months - all from Havat Gil'ad, have just become orphans in yet another Arab-on-Israeli drive-by shooting murder - the latest to join a tragic history such attacks.

Their father is being buried as we enter this text. (His is the Havat Gilad community's first funeral.) His wife Yael now faces challenges as a young widow that no one should ever know.

Around 8 pm last night (Tuesday), on Route 60, a major highway in the Samaria district of Israel that runs north-south between Beer Sheva and Nazareth via Jerusalem, a shooter armed with a gun opened fire from his moving vehicle in the direction of the car of Rabbi Raziel Shevach, a remarkable man of 35:

Rabbi Shevach was a mohel, taught children in the community and also served as a volunteer in the regional health service. He had been a resident of Havat Gilad for 10 years... [Hamodia, January 10, 2018]

Shot in the neck, Rabbi Shevach managed to phone his wife. She raised the alarm and help was dispatched. Times of Israel says

civilian and military medics rushed to the scene and tried to stop the bleeding as they took him to Kfar Saba’s Meir Hospital, where he was pronounced dead after life-saving efforts failed. Immediately following the attack, troops launched a manhunt, setting up roadblocks in the area around the Palestinian city of Nablus as they looked for the perpetrators.

Rabbi Shevach in his Magen David Adom
ambulance brigade uniform [Image Source]

The hunt was aided by ad hoc IDF security checks that were put in place at the entrances to and exits from nearby Nablus and forces manned security crossings across the city, according to the military spokesperson. Israeli special forces joined the search, entering nearby Palestinian Arab villages to seek the attackers.

As of this morning (Wednesday), the army has said it is expanding the search and bringing in reinforcements. Attacks of this kind are often described as the work of lone-wolf operators. Much of the time, a cell of terrorists is revealed and a supply chain and operational command that stretch beyond our borders and into foreign countries. Too soon to eliminate any theories.

A Facebook post on Monday (in Hebrew) reported that a Jewish resident of the nearby Yitzhar community, driving in his car, saw another vehicle pull up next to him. The other driver brandished a pistol but was unable to fire for reasons unknown.

The terrorists of Hamas issued a statement last night (says Times of Israel) praising the attack, calling it “heroic” and warning that it is "a sign of future attacks to come". Another source quotes part of their message calling the murder:

heroic action, that came as a result of Israel’s crimes against our people in the West Bank, Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa Mosque. 

Hamas stopped short of taking responsibility for the lethal terror attack. This doesn't mean they are uninvolved. And it certainly shouldn't be understood as a specific response to some specific complaint. The Palestinian Arab terrorist forces seek Israeli and Jewish victims always and everywhere, and have done for generations.

UPDATE Tuesday February 6, 2018: A JTA report today ["Israeli forces kill head of terror cell behind Gilad Farm rabbi’s murder"] says that as a result of a joint effort by the Israel Security Agency (the Shin Bet), the Israel Defense Forces and the Israel Police,

"Israeli security forces shot and killed the Palestinian terrorist behind the murder of an Israeli father of six. Nearly a month after Rabbi Raziel Shevach was killed in a drive-by attack at the Gilad Farms outpost junction in the northern West Bank, Ahmed Nassar Jarrar, a resident of Jenin, was killed Tuesday morning, the Israel Security Agency said in a statement. Jarrar was the head of the terrorist cell that perpetrated the January 9 shooting and personally participated in the attack, according to the statement.  Jarrar was killed during an attempt to arrest him in the village of Yamoun, near Jenin, where he was hiding. An M-16 rifle and an explosives pack were found with him when he was killed. Other cell members who have been arrested have told investigators that the cell was involved in other attempts to plan and carry out terror attacks. A gag order has been placed on any additional details..."

17-Dec-17: Two Arab-on-Israeli terror attacks; both involve bombs

The heavily secured entrance to the Samaria Military Court where this
morning's attack was thwarted [Archive Image Source]

Far from the attention of the army of foreign reporters prowling our country for stories, Israeli alertness has thwarted a couple of especially hair-raising attacks by Palestinian Arab zealots intent on murder at any price, including their own lives. Both incidents involve bombs.

First this morning (Sunday). Times of Israel's account ["Palestinian arrested outside West Bank military court with suspected bomb", today] says a Palestinian Arab, still unidentified at this early stage, tried to make his way into one of Israel's military courts while wearing some prohibited underwear. 

He was stopped by on-duty Border Guard officers on arriving at the entrance to the Samaria Military Court (we think the one in Salim, in Israel's Jezreel Valley) with what appears - no one is certain yet - a bomb strapped to his body. It's a gorgeous early winter day, not cold, very sunny, and he was wearing an overcoat. One of the police required him to remove the coat, and the murderous thing concealed inside it it became evident.

Sappers are working to defuse the suspected explosive device as we write this. The court's entrance is now closed.

Notwithstanding those vague media reports appearing from time to time that Palestinian Arab terrorists have discontinued their fixation with body-mounted bombs and other forms of murderous self-immolation, a social media commentator posted this morning (in Hebrew) that there have been at least two very similar previous attacks by bombers this year, one on May 24 and one of October 15 (reported here), at the very same location.

Two days ago (Friday), a Palestinian Arab in another attack involving the Border Guard part of Israel's police, this time in the Arab town of Al-Bireh (population around 40,000), ran full-pelt towards the Israelis while brandishing a knife. As well armed as the police undoubtedly were, they held off doing the obvious - firing at the man with the very clear intentions - until he was upon them. He managed to stab one of the Israeli Border Guard men in the upper part of his body. 

Image Source: NYPost/AFP

He was wearing what the media are calling "a suicide vest". It's not clear whether the "suicide" device involved actual explosives or the mere appearance of them. Colleagues of the stabbed police officer, fearing he would explode and caused still more injuries, shot him. (It's captured on a graphic piece of video here.) He is now dead.

The Palestinian Authority health ministry, often the source for details about terrorists and their injuries, says the deceased attacker is named Mohammed Aqal, 29. 

As the AFP photo above makes plain, whether or not the knife-man had a working bomb under his jacket, he plainly wanted people to think he did. He also, it appears, wanted to seem to be a reporter according to this stunning article ["Police: Palestinian who stabbed border guard pretended to be a journalist", Times of Israel, today]

His injured victim is now in Jerusalem's Shaarei Zedek Medical Center where the official report issued this morning (Sunday) is, according to Ynet, that his condition is thankfully improving and he is now said to be in moderate condition.

19-Oct-16: At Tapuah Junction today, a young woman, a knife and a familiar narrative

At the scene [Image Source]

The entire country is on vacation for the week of Sukkot (Tabernacles). But there's no vacation from the threat of terror attacks..

From Ynet today:

An attempted stabbing attack took place at Tapuah Junction in the West Bank on Wednesday afternoon. A female attacker approached the Border Police at the junction and attempted to stab them. They responded by firing, and the attacker was neutralized. No Border Police were injured.

Via social media sources, it appears the meaning of "the attacker was neutralized" is that the armed assailant, a young woman estimated to be 19 years old, was shot and killed at the scene. The attack took place around 12:50 pm this afternoon. Tapuah Junction [click] has seen many such attacks.

UPDATE 3:00 pm: Over at Ma'an News Agency, there's the customary spin-filled reporting, with "alleged" being the prevailing sentiment (the word appears five times in a short news report):

Israeli forces shot and killed a young Palestinian woman at the Zaatara military checkpoint in the northern occupied West Bank district of Nablus on Wednesday after she allegedly attempted to stab Israeli border police. The slain woman was identified by local sources as 23-year-old Raheeq Shajee Birawi from the village of Asira al-Shamaliya north of Nablus city...

The Arabic version of the Ma'an report [here] calls the girl (named رحيق شجيع بيراوي in Arabic) a "martyr", as do Arabic-language Twitter messages [here]. Ma'an's English version does not. That's the usual approach that this European-funded news packager takes in reports of thwarted Arab-on-Israeli terror attacks.

18-Sep-16: Another Palestinian Arab woman intercepted before she can stab someone

Israel National News reports on the arrest of a young Palestinian Arab woman this afternoon (Sunday)

after being seen advancing with a knife toward the town of Itamar in Samaria. There were no injuries in the incident. The woman, a 23-year-old resident of nearby Awarta, was walking along the road near the town armed with a knife. When she spotted the Military Security Coordinator (MSC) of Itamar, she immediately dropped the knife. The MSC arrested and handcuffed the young woman. Additional army and security personnel arrived in the area shortly afterward.

Times of Israel has this video grab (above) of her seated on the ground after being intercepted, with her hands in the air. There's likely to be a back-story as the investigation goes on. But of one thing we can be just about certain: the Arab-language media will be protesting that this is a perfectly innocent girl with absolutely no malign intentions and the knife she was brandishing was not a knife at all, and anyway it wasn't hers.

And so the next attempted stabber prepares himself or herself.

02-Jun-16: Another Arab-on-Israeli knifing attack today and the assailant, again, is a female

The scene of today's attack [Ma'an News Agency]

As reported this afternoon (Thursday) by Times of Israel:

A Palestinian woman approached a military outpost in the West Bank Thursday and attempted to stab a group of soldiers. The troops opened fire and shot her dead, the army said. According to the Israel Defense Forces, the woman tried to attack the soldiers who were stationed at a pillbox-style guard post near the Einav settlement, northwest of the Palestinian city of Nablus. Forces at the scene “responded to the immediate threat by shooting the attacker and killing her,” the IDF said in a statement. No Israeli soldiers were injured... [T]he IDF was still investigating the incident to determine what exactly happened, a spokesperson said.

Ynet reported the attack around 1:00 pm today. The Einav community, home to about 800 people, is located on Route 57 in the Samaria (Shomron) district between the communities of Avnei Hefetz and Shavei Shomron. It has appeared in previous posts of ours, and not - unfortunately - for its very pleasant location and high quality of life:

• 01-Dec-15: Tuesday's Arab-on-Israeli violence continued
• 01-Oct-15: Thursday morning stabbing attack thwarted
• 3-Dec-12 [UPDATED]: Ax-wielding Palestinian Arab is stopped by Israeli soldiers this morning

Who is the now-deceased woman who launched today's assault? We don't know from Israeli sources at this stage. Over at the Bethlehem-based Ma'an News Agency, they take their characteristic, disingenuous line that she was

shot and killed at an Israeli army checkpoint in the northern occupied West Bank on Thursday afternoon, after allegedly attempting to stab a soldier.

At Ma'an, their English-language reports rarely get past this focus on allegedly. Not so in their Arabic-language editions, where the dead woman is already being termed a "martyr". [For background to this European-funded process of glorifying the terrorists, Ma'an-style, see "26-Dec-14: The ongoing search for Arabic-language outrage at the men with the meat-cleavers and knives"]

On the basis of past experience, we will not be surprised if today's knife-woman is a child or a very young woman.

UPDATE Thursday June 2, 2016 at 7:15 pm: Not a child and not a very young woman by the standards of Palestinian Arab stabbers. Ma'an says the woman who attacked Israeli security personnel today and died in the trying is "25-year-old Ansar Hussam Harasha. Harasha... reportedly a married mother of two."

08-Nov-15: Ramming vehicles into Israelis again this morning

Scene of this morning's vehicle-ramming attack on
Israelis. The race is on now to declare the driver a
martyred hero, and (the Palestinian Paradox) the whole
affair an accident on his part

There are reports this morning of a vehicle-ramming attack on Israeli civilians standing at the bus/hitch-hike station at Tapuah Junction in the Samaria district.

Israel National News:

A Palestinian Arab terrorist carried out a car attack at Tapuach junction in Samaria on Sunday morning, shortly after 9:30 am, initial reports state. The driver was apparently heading northward along Route 60, toward Huwwara, when he plowed his car into the trempiada, or hitchiking and bus stop, at the popular intersection. Three people - teenagers or young adults who were waiting for rides - are injured. Two are seriously injured; they have been evacuated by helicopter to nearby hospitals. The third is listed as suffering from light injuries. 

Ynet

The terrorist drove rapidly towards a group of Israelis standing at a hitchhiking station before colliding with them. Border Police forces permanently stationed at the junction shot at the attacker, who ran into a concrete obstacle and died.

The initial reports describe rather horrifying injuries to the victims.

01-Oct-15: "Brave resistance": Israeli parents shot dead in their car tonight

The scene of tonight's drive-by murder near Itamar

Israel is in the midst of the week-long celebration of Sukkot, or Tabernacles. It's just after 10:00 pm, and we have arrived home after spending a delightful afternoon and evening in the Sukkah with friends in Samaria (Shomron, to Hebrew speakers), a historically-rich region of gentle hills and gorgeous vistas, bounded on the north by the Galilee and on the south by Judea.

We had the car radio off and so were unaware as we drove back of the Palestinian Arab terrorist savagery that exacted a tragic price some 30 kilometers further along the road where we had been having such a pleasant time.

As Israel National News reports

A shooting attack took place just after 9 p.m. on Thursday night, with initial reports indicating two people in their 30s were killed in the gunfire. MDA volunteers [Magen David Adom - Israel's main ambulance service] said that the victims were a man and a woman and that they were dead when the volunteers arrived on the scene. They had suffered wounds in the upper body. Four children were in the vehicle. The children are aged four months, four years, 7 and 9. They were unhurt and did not require evacuation to hospital. An MDA paramedic, Boaz Malka, said that upon arrival, “We saw a car in the middle of the road, with a man in his 30s lying next to it with wounds to the upper body. Inside the vehicle, a woman in her 30s was seated, also with serious wounds to the upper body. They were without signs of life and regrettably we had to determine that they were dead on the spot.” The attack occurred near Beit Furik, between the towns of Itamar and Elon Moreh, located southeast of Shechem (Nablus) in Samaria. Large security forces are present at the scene. Shooting was reportedly heard after the IDF arrived on the scene and it was believed that the forces may be engaged in a chase.

Poster from the current Amnesty Tamimi roadshow. 
Resist is the word Hamas uses to describe tonight's murders
of a young couple traveling with their children. When the 
subject is terror, the terror-laundering Bassem Tamimi 
should be believed

Ynet says the murdered couple are the parents of the children (9, 7, 4 and 4 months) in the car. No names have been published at this early stage, though strong rumors refer to a very well-known and widely admired family of educators.

Hamas, according to Ynet, nauseatingly praised the cold-blooded shootings of a family in a car on the road near their home as an act of "brave resistance". That's the very term that the terror-laundering Bassem Tamimi and his current roadshow sponsors/hosts Amnesty International use repeatedly to absurdly suggest non-violent passivity (unless you probe him a little more diligently, or ask his wife who is quite open about this). Hamas also (surprise) termed the attack on three very young children and their mother and father "heroic". The Popular Resistance Committees, a Palestinian Arab terror organization, called it "a natural reaction" to "Israeli crimes."


UPDATE 11:55 pm Thursday night, 01-Oct-15: It's been announced that the victims of tonight's Pal Arab savagery are Rabbi Eitam Henkin and his wife Naama. They lived in the same small (250 families) Samarian community, Neria, as the five Schijveschuurders - mother, father and three of their little children - murdered in the 2001 attack on Jerusalem's Sbarro pizzeria which also extinguished the life of our beloved daughter Malki.

The Henkins are to be buried tomorrow (Friday) at Jerusalem's Har Menuchot cemetery (where Malki and at the Schijveschuurders were also laid to rest) at 11:00 am.

01-Oct-15: Thursday morning stabbing attack thwarted

A home in the Israeli community of Einav [Image Source]

The ordinary, lethal Palestinian Arab violence that slowly exacts a high price on both sides continues.

A Palestinian Arab male attempted a stabbing attack on an IDF officer in the very early hours of this morning (Thursday) near the Samaria-region community of Einav (population: about 600). Times of Israel says the would-be attacker approached soldiers at a roadblock holding a knife in his hand. There was an "ensuing altercation" in which the attacker was injured, and then treated by a Palestinian Red Crescent crew. He was removed from the scene shortly afterwards by the IDF for interrogation. Israel National News reports that one of the soldiers was also hurt.

Einav, a short drive from Netanya and the coast, was in the news two years ago [report] when a terrorist infiltration of the community was thwarted by the IDF, and in 2012 when an axe-wielding Palestinian Arab rammed his car into a vehicle being driven by security personnel.

8-Mar-13: Sharp rise in attacks on Israelis during February

The Shin Bet (the Israeli Security Agency) has reported a 70% increase in the monthly rate of terrorist attacks on Israelis in the Jerusalem area, and Judea and Samaria. 139 attacks were recorded during February, 38 of them in Jerusalem. Most were by fire-bomb (aka Molotov cocktail or improvised incendiary weapon). In December 2012, there were 112 attacks.

12-Dec-12: Scenes from the front lines, courtesy of the Tayar Report

Palestinian Arab attackers, equipped with rocks and Molotov cocktails

The chronology below is a continuation of the reports we have published in recent months based on information received via the Tayar Security Report, with some editing and annotating by us. Yehudit Tayar produces her invaluable bulletins on the basis of first-responder, police and army reports.

Friday November 30, 2012

• Halhul Bypass Road adjacent to Highway 60: An Israeli vehicle is attacked by rock-throwing Arabs at the exact spot where Asher Palmer and his infant son Yonatan HY"D were murdered in September 2011 ["25-Sep-11: "Only" rock throwers - but now a father and his infant son are dead"] This time, one person is lightly injured and given medical care at the scene.

Sunday December 2, 2012

• Near Anbata, east of Tul Karem: Several Israeli vehicles come under rock attack by Arabs; damage is limited this time to property loss.
• The Benjamin region close to Hizma: Several Israeli vehicles come under rock attack by Arabs.
• Between Hawara Checkpoint and Tapuah Junction: Several Israeli vehicles come under rock and Molotov cocktail attack by Arabs. There is resultant property damage.
• Between the community of Adam and the Hizma Crossing in the Benjamin region near the northern entrance to Jerusalem: Ongoing heavy rock attacks on Israeli vehicles result in a traffic accident
• South of Nablus/Shechem near Hawara: Several Israeli vehicles come under rock attack by Arabs.
• Route 443 in the Benjamin region, a major intercity highway running between the coastal plane and Jerusalem: In the vicinity of Bet Horon and the village of A-Tira: Several Israeli vehicles come under rock attack by Arabs.
• Between the Arab village of Azun and the Israeli community of Ma'aleh Shomron: Several Israeli vehicles come under rock attack by Arabs.

Monday December 3, 2012

• Between Shavei Shomron and Einav in the Shomron region: An Arab driver deliberately crashes his vehicle into an IDF military jeep, causing the jeep to crash and overturn. Four security personnel re injured.  The Arab driver, armed with an ax, approaches the Israelis and is shot and killed. [See also our post: "3-Dec-12 [UPDATED]: Ax-wielding Palestinian Arab is stopped by Israeli soldiers this morning"]

Tuesday December 4, 2012

• Near El Arub on the Gush Etzion-Hevron highway: Two Molotov cocktails are hurled at Israeli vehicles. No serious injuries or damage.

Wednesday December 5, 2012

• Near Beit El in the Benjamin region: Two Molotov cocktails are burled at an Israeli passenger bus. No serious injuries or damage.
• Massive rock attacks occur near Ma'aleh Shomron, and in the vicinity of Ariel.

Thursday December 6, 2012

• At Shavei Shomron Junction: An IDF jeep comes under attack by Arabs armed with Molotov cocktails.
• Near Hawara, an Israel bus carrying school students comes under rock attack by Arabs, causing property damage.
• At the Hizma Crossing in the Benjamin region: the driver of an Israeli bus reports his vehicle came under rock attack the communities of Rachelim and Eli.
• On the Gush Etzion-Hevron highway near Beit Ummar: Arabs subject Israeli vehicles, including buses, to sustained rock and boulder attacks. Though there are no injuries,there is significant property damage, including damage to vehicles.
• Hevron: In Kikar Hashoter ("Policeman's Square") IDF soldiers come under attack by a mob of some 150 Arabs armed with rocks and Molotov cocktails. The soldiers disperse the attackers.
• Hevron: An IDF patrol is attacked by police officers of the Palestinian Authority using their fists, while non-uniformed Arabs throw rocks. The IDF force retreats under a hail of rocks.

Friday December 7, 2012

• West of Nablus/Shechem: Violence directed at Israelis by Arabs. Two IDF soldiers are injured by rocks hurled at them; one suffers a suspected fracture of the arm. Another suffers facial injuries and lacerations. A third soldier suffers burn injuries from an exploding grenade thrown at him. IDF soldiers from the 76 Brigade of the Engineering Corps are evacuated to Beilinson Hospital in Petach Tikvah for treatment.
• On the Gush Etzion-Hevron highway at Beit Ummar: Ongoing violent attacks by Arabs directed against Israeli vehicles result in one driver suffering head injury from rocks hurled at her vehicle; she manages to continue driving until she reaches Karmei Zur where she is treated by an IDF ambulance crew and taken to hospital by Magen David Adom. Damage is caused to Israeli vehicles including buses. IDF forces disperse the agitators into the village.

Saturday December 8, 2012

• North-west of Ramallah near El Moiyer: Explosive devices are found on the road and inside a pipe on the road. IDF bomb squad sappers are called in and they safely dispose of the threats. 
• On the Gush Etzion-Hevron highway at Beit Ummar: Several Israeli vehicles come under rock attack by Arabs.

Sunday December 9, 2012

• Azun Junction: A Molotov cocktail is thrown by Arabs. No injuries or damage.
• The road running between Har Homa and Tekoa in Jerusalem's southern suburbs: An Israeli bus comes under rock attack by Arabs near Herodian Square, causing damage but no injuries.
• Near Azun: Israeli vehicles and buses are attacked by Arabs armed with rocks and Molotov cocktails.
• Near Hawara: Molotov cocktails is hurled at an Israeli vehicle.
• The tunnel road running south from Jerusalem and under Bethlehem: Several Israeli vehicles come under rock attack by Arabs; no injuries but there is property damage.

Tuesday December 11, 2012

• Between Nili and Na'aleh in the Benjamin region: Molotov cocktail is hurled at an Israeli vehicle.

Wednesday December 12, 2012 (today)

• North of Ofra in the Mateh Binyamin region: Several Israeli vehicles come under rock attack by Arabs; no injuries but there is property damage.
• On the Gush Etzion-Hevron highway near Beit Ummar: Arabs subject an Israeli passenger bus to rock and boulder attack.

Postscript from Yehudit Tayar: "These reports are translated and publicized by Hatzalah Yehudah and Shomron with the clearance and confirmation of the IDF. Hatzalah Yehudah and Shomron is a voluntary emergency medical organization with over 500 volunteer doctors, paramedics, medics who are on call 24/7 and work along with the IDF, 669 IAF Airborn Rescue, the security officers and personal throughout Yesha and the Jordan Valley, and with MDA. We, the volunteers of Hatzalah Yehudah and Shomron go out to rescue anyone who needs our emergency medical assistance; including civilians, military and Arabs also those within the PA territories. (with IDF presence) To us a life is precious and we go out at risk leaving home and family or stopping on the road to rescue anyone in need."