Friday, April 03, 2009

Palestinian Terrorist Uses Axe to Kill 13-year-old, Wound 7-year-old

The Israel Project

A terrorist on Thursday (April 2) infiltrated Bat Ayin in the Gush Etzion region of the West Bank and killed Shlomo Nativ, a 13-year-old Israeli boy, by striking him in the head with an axe. [1]

• The terrorist also attacked a 7-year-old boy with the axe, hitting and wounding him in the head. He was taken to Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem and is in moderate condition. [2] • Iran-backed Palestinian Islamic Jihad and an organization calling itself the Imad Mughniyeh Group claimed responsibility for the attack, although this has not been confirmed. [3]

• From Jan. 1 – Feb. 28, 2009 there were 64 terrorist attacks that took place in the West Bank or were carried out by terrorists from the West Bank. [4] Since Israel’s Jan. 18 ceasefire, at least 154 rockets and mortars have been fired at Israel by terrorist groups in Gaza. [5]

A Palestinian terrorist on Thursday (April 2) attacked two Israeli children with an axe, killing one and seriously wounding the other in the town of Bat Ayin in the West Bank. Shlomo Nativ, 13, died after the terrorist struck him in the head with the axe. The second child, 7-year-old Yair Gamliel, suffered moderate injuries. [6]

The terrorist was confronted by a passerby who fought with the assailant and wrestled the axe from him. The terrorist then fled the area and Israeli security forces combed the area in search of him. Residents of the area were asked to remain indoors as the search was conducted. [7]

The passerby, who identified himself as Avinoam, said, “He tried to stab me. I kicked him, he kicked me…I saw the seven-year-old boy running, the axe-wielding terrorist was running after him,…I ran toward the terrorist and he tried to raise the axe over me with the aim of killing me…First I caught the hand holding the axe so that he couldn't kill me, I somehow managed to grab the axe. He succeeded in escaping and I shouted to somebody to run after him.” [8]

Recent Palestinian Attacks and Attempted Attacks on Israelis

2009

On March 15, a Palestinian terrorist shot Israeli Senior Warrant Officer Yehezkel Ramzarkar, 50, and Warrant Officer David Rabinowitz, 42, as they patrolled near the northern Jordan Valley town of Massua. [9] The so-called Imad Mughniyeh Group claimed responsibility for the murder, which occurred when a terrorist cell staged a vehicle breakdown and then shot at a police car that had stopped to assist, killing the two policemen inside. [10]

On March 21, 2009, a large bomb weighing almost 100 lbs. (45 kilos) was found in the trunk of a car in the parking lot of a mall in the city of Haifa. A source in the Palestinian Authority said Iran-backed Hezbollah or another Lebanese terror group may have been responsible for the attack. [11]

On March 5, 2009, a Palestinian resident of East Jerusalem attacked a police car and civilian bus with his bulldozer in southern Jerusalem, injuring two police officers. [12]

On Feb. 8, a 19-year-old student from Washington, D.C. who was attending the Hebrew University of Jerusalem was stabbed by three Palestinian teenagers after he got lost in East Jerusalem. The assailants slashed the student in the neck and cheek with a utility knife. [13]

2008

In 2008, there were 762 terrorist attacks originating in the West Bank, including 619 incidents involving the throwing of petrol bombs; 78 instances of small arms fire; 52 incidents involving improvised explosive devices; 10 stabbing attacks; 3 attacks using vehicles and other miscellaneous terrorist incidents. [14]

Despite the attacks, Israel removed more than 100 dirt roadblocks and a number of checkpoints in 2008 to facilitate movement for Palestinians. [15]

Imad Mughniyeh was a commander of the Iran-backed Lebanese terrorist militia, Hezbollah. He was killed in Damascus in February 2008. Various terrorist factions, including Hezbollah, accused Israel of responsibility for Mughniyeh’s death and have threatened to attack Israeli targets in revenge. [16]

Palestinian Islamic Jihad is an Iran-backed terrorist group, which receives $2 million annually from the Islamic Republic, [17] most of which is used exclusively for terrorist attacks and weapons. [18] The group is designated a foreign terrorist organization by the U.S., EU, Australia and Canada. [19]

Contacts Available for Comment

Yael Bosem-Levi, Spokeswoman, Hadassah-Ein Kerem Hospital – Treating injured 7-year old
Tel: 972-50-404-8666

Micky Galin, Spokesman for the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories
Tel.: 972-50-623-4081

Yerucham Mandola, Spokesman for Israel’s Medical Emergency Service Magen David Adom
Cell: 972-52-256-9955; Email: dover@mdais.co.il

Micky Rosenfeld, Israel Police Spokesman
Tel: 972-50-627-5870

Dr. Jonathan Spyer
Fields: Middle East Affairs, Israel-Palestinian Affairs, International Relations
Affiliation: Global Research in International Affairs (GLORIA) Center at the Inter-Disciplinary Center in Herzliya.
Cell: 972-52-878-3591
E-mail: jspyer@idc.ac.il

Daniel Diker
Fields: Contemporary Middle Eastern affairs, Internal Palestinian conflict in Gaza, freedom of press in Palestinian territories
Affiliation: Director of Institute for Contemporary Affairs at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs (JCPA); serves as Knesset Affairs correspondent for Israel Broadcasting Authority’s English news
Contact via Adam Shay, JCPA Project Coordinator
Tel.: 972-2-561-9281; 972-2-563-2947

Footnotes

[1] Pfeffer, Anshel; Lis, Jonathan; Shragai, Nadav, “13-year-old killed in West Bank terror attack,” Haaretz, April 2, 2009, http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1075941.html

[2] Pfeffer, Anshel; Lis, Jonathan; Shragai, Nadav, “13-year-old killed in West Bank terror attack,” Haaretz, April 2, 2009, http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1075941.html

[3] Pfeffer, Anshel; Lis, Jonathan; Shragai, Nadav, “13-year-old killed in West Bank terror attack,” Haaretz, April 2, 2009, http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1075941.html

[4] “Monthly Review of Palestinian Terrorist Activity: February 2008,” Israel; General Security Services, http://www.shabak.gov.il/SiteCollectionImages/ñ÷éøåú%20åôøñåîéí/ðúåðéí%20òãëðééí/feb09/monthly-review-feb09.pdf (Hebrew)

[5] "News of Terrorism and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, March 24-31, 2009," Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, http://www.terrorism-info.org.il/malam_multimedia/English/eng_n/html/ipc_e020.htm

[6] Weiss, Efrat, "Teen killed in West Bank terror attack," YnetNews, April 2, 2009, http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3696287,00.html

[7] Pfeffer, Anshel; Lis, Jonathan; Shragai, Nadav, “13-year-old killed in West Bank terror attack,” Haaretz, April 2, 2009, http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1075941.html

[8] “‘He tried to stab me. I kicked him, he kicked me.’,” Haaretz, April 2, 2009, http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1075967.html

[9] “Victims of Palestinian Violence and Terrorism since September 2000,” Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, accessed April 2, 2009, http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Terrorism-+Obstacle+to+Peace/Palestinian+terror+since+2000/Victims+of+Palestinian+Violence+and+Terrorism+sinc.htm

[10] Lappin, Yaakov, “Mughniyeh Group behind shooting,” The Jerusalem Post, March 16, 2009, http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull&cid=1237114833392

[11] Einav, Hagai, “Police dismantle bomb planted near shopping mall,” YnetNews, March 22, 2009, http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3689908,00.html; Issacharoff, Avi; Harel, Amos; Eyadat, Fadi, “PA source: Iran-backed group may be behind Haifa bomb attempt,” Haaretz, March 23, 2009, http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1073099.html0020

[12] “Two policemen hurt in bulldozer terror attack in Jerusalem,” Haaretz, March 5, 2009, http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1068909.html

[13] Lefkovits, Etgar; Cheifetz, Tori, “US student knifed by Arabs in e. J'lem,” The Jerusalem Post, Feb. 9, 2009, http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull&cid=1233304715382

[14] “Statistics and Trends of Palestinian Terrorism: Yearly Review 2008,” Israel General Security Services, December 2008, http://www.shabak.gov.il/SiteCollectionImages/ñ÷éøåú%20åôøñåîéí/2008-terror-summary.pdf (Hebrew)

[15] Interview with IDF Spokesperson’s Unit, April 2, 2009

[16] Black, Ian, “Profile: Imad Mughniyeh,” The Guardian, Feb. 13, 2009, http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/feb/13/israelandthepalestinians.terrorism; “‘We'll soon avenge Mughniyeh's death’,” The Jerusalem Post, Aug. 23, 2008, http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull&cid=1219218617708

[17] “Terrorist Organization Profile: Palestinian Islamic Jihad,” Start: National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism, March 1, 2008, http://www.start.umd.edu/start/data/tops/terrorist_organization_profile.asp?id=82

[18] “The Islamic Jihad,” YnetNews, Dec. 22, 2007, http://www.ynet.co.il/english/articles/0,7340,L-3484933,00.html

[19] “Terrorist Organization Profile: Palestinian Islamic Jihad,” Start: National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism, March 1, 2008, http://www.start.umd.edu/start/data/tops/terrorist_organization_profile.asp?id=82

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