On Saturday, a man fired a shot at a restaurant near the West Bank city of Jericho, according to the Israeli military. Media reported that he subsequently had problems with his gun. This may have prevented further shots – and victims. It was the third incident in 24 hours. Footage from a surveillance camera is said to show that the attacker was armed with an assault rifle. The armed forces are currently looking for the man. Nobody was injured.
Unlike an attack in the morning. A 13-year-old Palestinian man shot and wounded a father and son in an Israeli settlement in the Silwan district of east Jerusalem. The police spoke of a “terrorist attack”. Armed passers-by finally shot the boy. The night before, an attack on visitors to a synagogue that left seven dead caused horror.
Another attack in Israel
On Saturday there was another attack in Israel, in which the assassin is said to have been only 13 years old. Two were injured in the gun attack. Violence in Israel and the Palestinian territories continues to escalate.
According to initial findings, the assassin on Friday in the Israeli settlement of Neve Jaakov was a 21-year-old from East Jerusalem. He was shot trying to escape. The police arrested at least 42 suspects – relatives and neighbors of the assassin. It was not immediately known what they were charged with.
Israel conquered the West Bank and East Jerusalem in 1967. More than 600,000 Israeli settlers live there today. The Palestinians claim the territories for an independent state of Palestine with the Arab-influenced eastern part of Jerusalem as the capital.
“Prepared for any scenario”
“We are not looking for an escalation, but we are prepared for any scenario,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday evening at a security cabinet meeting to deal with the situation after the terrorist attacks. “My heart breaks at the news of the terrible terrorist attacks on Shabbat in Jerusalem,” Israeli President Yitzchak Herzog said. Germany’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz was appalled after the attacks. “I am deeply shocked by the news of the horrific attacks in Jerusalem,” he wrote on Twitter.
Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen condemned the “appalling attack” in the strongest possible terms and was “deeply concerned about the spiral of violence in recent days”. “The attack on a synagogue in Jerusalem makes it painfully clear that we must continue to fight anti-Semitism and terrorism with determination,” tweeted Chancellor Karl Nehammer (ÖVP). National Council President Wolfgang Sobotka also condemned the terrorist attacks. “It is appalling that innocent people were attacked after a service in a synagogue – and of all things on International Holocaust Remembrance Day,” said Sobotka, according to his spokesman.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also condemned the “cynical crime” on the anniversary of the Nazi genocide against the Jews. According to the 45-year-old, who has Jewish roots, a Ukrainian woman is also among the victims.
Palestinian leadership blames Israel
Jordan, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates also condemned the attack. Saudi Arabia, which has no diplomatic relations with Israel, also said it condemned “any attacks on civilians”. Many Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, on the other hand, responded to Friday’s terrorist attack with celebrations. The Palestinian leadership issued a statement saying Israel was “fully responsible for the dangerous escalation.” 31 Palestinians have already been killed this year. The people, including several young people, died in connection with military operations and their own attacks.
On Thursday, nine people were killed in a raid by Israeli soldiers in the West Bank, including members of the militant Palestinian organization Islamic Jihad. It was one of the deadliest military operations in the Palestinian Authority in years.
Police minister wants to “arm citizens better”
Netanyahu again urged his compatriots not to take the law into their own hands, but to let the army, government and security forces do their job. The far-right police minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, had previously called for citizens to be “better armed to avoid such attacks”. Ben-Gvir is considered a political arsonist and has already been convicted of racist hate speech and supporting a Jewish terrorist organization.
According to media reports, tens of thousands of people across the country protested against the new ultra-right government and its planned reforms in the judicial system on Saturday evening. Demonstrators lit candles to commemorate the victims of the terror attacks. They also held a minute’s silence for those killed. Some observers are warning of the end of Israeli democracy in view of the planned reform.
