Scene of shooting attack in Har Adar
Scene of shooting attack in Har AdarMDA spokesperson

Police have identified the terrorist responsible for Tuesday morning’s deadly shooting attack in Har Adar as Nimer Mahmoud Ahmed Aljamal, a 37-year-old resident of Beit Surik, a Palestinian Authority-controlled town near Har Adar.

Aljamal, who killed three Israelis and wounded a fourth when he opened fire, had been issued a work permit, allowing him to enter the Israeli community where he was employed. Authorities say Aljamal, a married father of four, had no criminal record or record of affiliation with a terrorist group.

During the attack Tuesday, Aljamal, a regular worker known to residents by name, arrived at the back gate of Har Adar along with other Palestinian Arab workers. When he aroused the suspicions, for reasons still unknown, of guards stationed at the gate and was ordered to halt, Aljamal drew a pistol concealed underneath his shirt and opened fire, wounding four Border Police officers. He used a regular issue pistol, not one of clandestine manufacture, shooting with deadly accuracy

Three of the officers were wounded in critical condition and succumbed to their injuries shortly afterwards. A fourth was evacuated in serious condition to Hadassah Ein Karem Hospital in Jerusalem.

Security forces on the scene shot and killed Aljamal after he opened fire on the officers.

Just two weeks prior to the attack, Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked encouraged Israeli business owners to hire more Palestinian Authority residents, stating that no terror attacks had been committed by PA Arabs carrying Israeli work permits.

“I strongly support increasing the number of work permits for Palestinians,” said Shaked adding that she was pushing Israeli restaurateurs hiring illegal immigrants to replace them with PA residents with Israeli work permits.

“I spoke with some restaurant owners who had come to me asking what they could do if all their [illegal immigrant] workers from Eritrea and Sudan would be deported. I told them ‘hire Palestinians – they’re people who want jobs and don’t carry out terror attacks.'”

Har Adar is only a few minutes from the Tomb of the Prophet Samuel outside the Ramot neighborhood, but most of its residents drive to it on a rouundabout route via a turnoff from the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv HIghway 1 so as to avoid the Palestinian Arab villages nearby. Har Adar residents pride themselves on their good relations with their neighbors and know most of the regular PA workers by name.