Two Border Guard policemen were stabbed by an Arab terrorist in Hevron Sunday afternoon, on the eve of the Seventh of Passover holiday. One of the victims is in moderate-to-serious condition.
A 17-year-old Arab of Hevron, armed with a knife, approached a Border Guard jeep between the Machpelah Cave and Beit Hadassah shortly after noon on Sunday. He opened the door and stabbed two policemen sitting inside. Another Border Guard policeman managed to shoot the would-be murderer, who was not killed but was only wounded in the foot.
Hebron.com
The wounded victims were evacuated by Magen David Adom ambulances to Hadassah Hospital in Ein Karem, Jerusalem. One of them is reported in moderate-to-serious condition with wounds in his back, while the other was hurt lightly in his hand.
Israeli security forces quickly closed off the area, including the Machpelah Cave and the dozens of Jewish worshippers inside.
Hebron.com
More pictures of Hevron attack
An estimated 50,000 Jews visited the Jewish areas of Hevron on Wednesday and Thursday, without incident.
Just a month ago, a female Arab terrorist was caught near the Machpelah Cave with a knife; she said she had planned to stab a soldier. Six months ago, a soldier was stabbed in the same area.
Shifra Hoffman, founder of Victims of Arab Terror (VAT International), says that this and other terrorist attacks against Israelis are directly related to the government's willingness to release murderous terrorists from prison. She told Arutz-7 today, "The Government of Israel, with its policies of appeasement and cowardice, must be held responsible for all future attacks that may be perpetrated by the terrorist murderers that it plans to release in exchange for [hostage IDF soldier] Gilad Shalit. VAT International believes that this is double jeopardy; the Government of Israel is murdering the Jewish victims of Arab terror a second time by releasing their murderers."
Hevron activist resident Baruch Marzel, too, said that today's attack was a response to talk of releasing terrorist murderers such as Marwan Barghouti, as well as 1,300 other imprisoned terrorists, in exchange for Gilad Shalit.
Weekend Terrorism
An Arab-fired Kassam rocket slammed into a factory in the industrial section of Sderot Saturday afternoon. No injuries were reported in the attack, but the factory’s warehouse was damaged in the rocket strike.
On Friday, the IDF fired two missiles at a terrorist cell in northern Gaza, killing one terrorist and wounding two others. The terror group had been planting explosives along the route of the border fence between Gaza and Israel. The helicopter strike was the first since Israel declared a ceasefire with the Palestinian Authority in November. While Israel has refrained from operating in Gaza during the period, terrorists from the region have pounded Israeli towns with Kassam rockets.