Two ultra-Orthodox Jews, both seminary students, were assaulted outside Jerusalem’s Old City Monday evening in an apparent terrorist attack. The men reported being surrounded by a group of Arab youths when one of the attackers stabbed one of the men with a knife.
“The victims were surrounded by a group of Arab men, and one was stabbed and the other was lightly injured, although it is not clear if he was stabbed as well,” Police spokesperson Micky Rosenfeld said shortly after the attack.
The Jerusalem Post reported the condition of the stabbing victim as “moderate to serious”, though other papers claim his injuries were “moderate to light”. According to Ynetnews, the two are students at the Breslov Hasidic yeshiva (Jewish seminary) Shuvu Banim. The unidentified 45-year-old stabbing victim made his way to the Kishle police station in the Armenian Quarter. He was treated by paramedics before being transported to Shaarei Tzedek hospital, the same hospital from which Temple Mount activist Rabbi Yehuda Glick was just released. The other victim, aged 32, suffered a shallow knife wound and a broken arm, reported The Times of Israel. He was also treated at Shaarei Tzedek.
The Times of Israel reported three arrests have been made.
This incident comes one day after an Arab youth claimed to have been attacked by three Jewish men in an east Jerusalem neighborhood. His injuries were light. Police have opened an investigation, but thus far, no arrests have been made.
On Saturday night, The Jerusalem Post reported, an ultra-Orthodox bus driver was attacked by two Arab passengers while driving from Afula to Tel Aviv. As the men disembarked, the driver said, “one of them got out and the other called me a religious Jew. I turned and he punched me hard in the face.” Police are still searching for the suspects.
The rate and severity of the recent spate of terror attacks across the country have prompted several to call this a third intifada, or uprising. many of the attacks have been carried out by “lone wolf” operators, making them unpredictable and therefore harder to combat.
