Palestinian from Kalkilya stabs Israeli-Arab in Petah Tikva
A Palestinian from the northern West Bank city of Kalkilya stabbed an Israeli-Arab in Petah Tikva Monday morning, moderately wounding him.
The Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) said the unidentified 21-year-old suspect illegally entered Israel and stabbed an Egged bus driver in the neck in front of a downtown shawarma stand. The suspect was arrested and is currently being interrogated. He was imprisoned between 2015-2016 for unspecified terrorist activity.
The male victim, 32, from the northern Israeli-Arab town of Arara, was apparently mistaken for a Jew.
A worker at a nearby pizza restaurant struck and subdued the attacker with a pizza tray.
The assailant was treated at the scene by Magen David Adom paramedics and transferred to the Rabin Medical Center-Beilinson Campus in Petah Tikva, police said.
It remains unclear why the victim was targeted in the attack, although it was reported that the assailant said, “I did it for al-Aksa,” apparently referring to recent police measures to install metal detectors at the entrance to the Temple Mount.
The suspect was tackled by bystanders after attempting to flee the scene by foot, police said.
“A man came in and ordered shawarma,” an employee at the shawarma stand told Ynet shortly after the attack.
“There was nothing out of the ordinary about his behavior. Afterward, an Egged driver, who eats with us regularly, came in. He placed his order and went over to the refrigerator to get a soft drink. As I was preparing his order, another driver came in, and suddenly I heard him shout ‘terror attack, terror attack!’”
Magen David Adom paramedic Tom Dagan said the victim was fully conscious and sitting upright on a chair when first responders arrived and attempted to stop the bleeding.
“We provided him with lifesaving medical treatment, stopped his bleeding wounds, transported him into an MDA mobile intensive care unit and evacuated him to Beilinson Hospital in moderate to severe condition,” said Dagan. No other injuries were reported. The attack comes against the backdrop of ongoing tension on the Temple Mount, after metal detectors were installed at the entrance last week, resulting in the deaths of three Palestinian rioters Friday, and the subsequent terrorist attack at Halamish (Neveh Tzuf) on Friday night that killed three Israelis.