An infant child was killed and eight others were injured on Wednesday in a terror attack in Jerusalem when a Palestinian man drove his car into the Ammunition Hill streetcar station. Police shot and killed the driver, identified as Adbel-Rahman Shaloudi, 21, from East Jerusalem as he fled the scene. The young man was known to Israeli authorities and had “served time in jail for terror activity,” according to police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld. Rosenfeld continued by saying that security camera footage indicated that driver intentionally struck the Pedestrians.
Two of the bystanders struck remain in serious condition while the three-month-old baby, Chaya Zissel Brau, was laid to rest in a Jerusalem cemetery. The U.S. State Department announced child was also a American citizen without giving further details.
An Israeli policeman stands guard in Jerusalem on October 22, 2014. (Photo: AFP) |
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denounced that attack, blaming Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas for inciting violence against Jews for the second time this week. Abbas “both glorifies the murderers and also embraces the organization to which the terrorists belong, Hamas” he said during a briefing. Indeed, shortly after the incident, Abbas’s coalition partner, Hamas, released a statement calling Shaloudi a “hero.” Netanyahu was also referring to recent comments made by Abbas, in which he said Jews should be barred “by any means” from entering the Temple Mount, describing Jewish visitors as “herds of cattle.”
In recent weeks, Abbas and other Palestinians have accused Israel of limiting access to the Temple Mount and Al-Aqsa mosque, the third holiest site in Islam. On October 15, police detained 17 Palestinians, as a crowd of approximately 400 protesters gathered at the site. Violent confrontation between the Israelis and Palestinians demonstrators have continued to engulf the city. Palestinian rioters threw firebombs and rocks at Israeli security forces in a number of Jerusalem neighborhoods on Thursday.
