Soldiers shot and seriously wounded an Arab terrorist who tried to stab a soldier in Hevron shortly before noon Wednesday. The terrorist’s target was not wounded. IDF medics treated the terrorist, who was rushed to Shaarei Tzedek Medical Center in Jerusalem.
The clash occurred at “Soldier’s Square” near the Jewish community in the city, where Arabs frequently are caught at the Patriarchs’s Cave with knives.
Wednesday’s attempted murder of an IDF soldier came at the same time Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu was meeting for talks with U.S. Middle East special envoy George Mitchell in London. The Obama administration is demanding that Israel stop building for Jews in eastern Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria while stating that the Palestinian Authority must stop incitement and violence.
The PA, as a rule, does not denounce terrorist attacks, and PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas did not comment on Wednesday’s attempted murder.
Israel has complained that the PA is not meeting its commitment to halt incitement, and has noted that the PA education system continues to teach that all of Israel, from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea, is Arab Palestine.