A year after launching a fresh wave of terror attacks, Palestinian terrorists continue to try and kill Israeli security officials and civilians at every opportunity.
A Palestinian terrorist stabbed and wounded two police officers at Herod’s Gate at the entrance to Jerusalem’s Old City on Monday morning.
The two officers were on their way to a police station in the area when the terrorist came up from behind and stabbed them in their upper body. Initial reports indicate he had been tracking them for some time.
One victim, a 38-year-old mother of two, sustained critical wounds. She was immediately rushed to the operating room in a Jerusalem hospital, where doctors are fighting to save her life and repair the wounds to her neck and spine.
The second victim, a 47-year-old man, sustained moderate wounds.
The terrorist, in his early 20s, was shot and critically wounded by the male officer who overcame his initial shock and wounds and responded to the attack.
This is the seventh Palestinian terror attack in the past 72 hours, more than all the Palestinian attacks committed throughout August. Security officials estimate that the new outbreak of violence is the result of incitement and hate mongering the terrorists were exposed to during the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha last week.
This incident was the latest in a long series of Palestinian terror attacks, which have plagued Israelis over the course of almost a year, claiming the lives of 39 victims and wounding over some 550.
Fear of Further Violence
Israel fears that the Palestinians will step up their attacks on Israelis as the Jewish New Year holidays are celebrated in the coming weeks.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a meeting on Sunday to assess the security situation, and instructed that the police boost its presence, especially in the Old City and around the Temple Mount, and directed that “determined action” be taken against any attempts to destabilize the fragile peace.
Netanyahu also extended the ban on Members of Knesset and ministers from going up to the Temple Mount during this sensitive period.
He also directed that activity be increased against Palestinian incitement on social networks, with the goal of removing inflammatory content. He also instructed that a response team be established to refute disinformation about Israeli policy on the Temple Mount, which the Palestinian exploit to instigate violence.
The Temple Mount has been the site of multiple incidents of Palestinian violence and friction with Israel’s authorities.
The site is the place where the first two Jewish Temples stood and is the holiest site to Judaism, while Palestinians deny that the Temples ever existed.
By: Aryeh Savir, World Israel News