Arab motorist wounds 4 in car-ramming terror attack in Acre

An Arab Israeli hit two IDF soldiers, a Border Policeman and a pedestrian in a “nationalistic” car-ramming attack in the north. 

By: World Israel News Staff

An Arab motorist rammed his car into two IDF soldiers, a Border Policeman and a pedestrian on Sunday morning in the northern Israeli city of Acre (Akko).

“The investigation of the incident, as well as the findings from the scene and documentary materials, indicate that this was a nationalistic attack,” police said in a statement. The driver, 51, is from the northern Arab-Israeli town of Shfar’am, they said.

The victims, reportedly in their 20s, were taken to a nearby hospital in Nahariya with light injuries. The wounded border policeman managed to shoot and neutralize the assailant, who is in critical condition, police said.

The incident occurred near the city’s train station.

Earlier reports suggested the attack was an incident of road rage, after the driver received a hefty parking ticket.

“The driver got a ticket for NIS 1,000 ($290) for parking in a handicapped spot. He got annoyed and went up on the sidewalk [and] then struck a traffic light and some bushes and ran over a border guard,” eyewitness Shimon Cohen told the Ynet news site.

Zionist Union lawmaker Zohir Bahalul, a resident of the city, was hoping the police investigation would conclude that it was not a premeditated terrorist attack, TPS reported.

“Acre has always been an example of a city where Jews and Arabs live in coexistence. Even in times of crisis the city’s residents have known how to rise above extremism and violence and to maintain the fabric of coexistence,” Bahalul said, calling for restraint.