Israel wakes to terror
Bus blasts leave teen dead & 26 others hurt
Two blasts went off at bus stops in Jerusalem at the height of morning rush hour Wednesday, killing an Israeli-Canadian teenager and leaving 26 other people wounded in what police said were suspected Palestinian attacks.
The first explosion went off near a crowded bus stop on the edge of the city. The second took place 30 minutes later in the settlement of Ramot in the city’s north.
The victim who died in one of the attacks was identified as 16year-old Aryeh Shechopek, who had been on his way to a yeshiva.
Rabbi Aharon Kahana, head of the Harei Yehuda Yeshiva, described his slain student to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz as a “charming boy” and a “genius” who was beloved by all.
Two US citizens were among the injured, the US ambassador to Israel said.
“Sadly, I can now confirm that two US citizens were among those injured in today’s terror attacks in Jerusalem,” Ambassador Tom Nides tweeted Wednesday.
“As we head into Thanksgiving, I am grateful that they will recover. I pray for a peaceful holiday in the US, Jerusalem, or wherever you may be celebrating,” he continued.
An instructor at the school revealed that Shechopek did not feel well in the morning and had been urged by his mother to stay home before he decided to attend.
Shechopek was laid to rest just hours after the attack in accordance with Jewish tradition.
The violence occurred hours after Palestinian militants stormed a West Bank hospital and carried out an Israeli citizen being treated there identified as Tiran Feru, 17, according to the boy’s father.
The Israeli military claimed the teen, from the Druze minority, was already dead when he was taken from the hospital in Jenin.
Outgoing Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid said Israel would track down the attackers.
“They can run, they can hide — it won’t help them,” he said in a statement. “We will punish them to the fullest extent of the law.”
The attacks took place as former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is holding coalition talks after national elections and is likely to return to power as head of what’s expected to be Israel’s most right-wing government ever.
Itamar Ben-Gvir, a hard-line lawmaker who has called for the death penalty for Palestinian attackers and who is set to become the minister in charge of police under Netanyahu, said the attack meant Israel needed to crack down on Palestinian violence.
“We must exact a price from terror,” he said at the scene of the first explosion. “We must return to be in control of Israel, to restore deterrence against terror.”