Site of Jaffa stabbing attack
Site of Jaffa stabbing attackArutz Sheva

Police said on Tuesday evening that the visit to Israel by U.S. Vice President Joe Biden may have triggered the three terrorist attacks which took place in Petah Tikva, Jerusalem and Yafo.

In a statement released following a security assessment, the police stressed that there were no specific warnings about Tuesday's three attacks, but said that "it is quite possible that the visit of Vice President Joe Biden was a general trigger to those specific incidents."

Police also said that the terrorists who carried out all three attacks were illegal aliens, and emphasized it would take stricter measures against employers of illegal Arabs.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Tuesday evening held a security assessment in his office following the three attacks.

The discussion was attended by Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon, Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan, Police Chief Roni Alsheikh and representatives of the IDF and the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet).

Earlier on Tuesday it was reported that an American tourist was killed in the stabbing spree by an Arab terrorist in Yafo.

A number of the victims were severely injured in the attack, including four tourists hospitalized in serious condition. At least one of the wounded tourists is a Russian citizen.

The attacker - identified as a 22-year-old resident of the Palestinian Authority city of Qalqilya in Samaria - struck at three separate locations near the marina, before shot dead by police.

The visiting Biden was actually in Yafo at the time of the stabbing, as he was attending an event at the Peres Center for Peace.