Jerusalem: Palestinian Slams Car Into Israeli Soldiers

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Jerusalem: Palestinian Slams Car Into Israeli Soldiers

An act of violence reveals two fundamental flaws in Israel’s policies for protection from violent Palestinians.

Jerusalem—An enraged Palestinian rammed his black bmw into a group of Israeli soldiers and civilians near the Jaffa Gate in Jerusalem late last night. The attack, which occurred around 11 p.m., sent 19 people, most of them soldiers, to hospital. The driver was shot dead.

“I was walking with a group of soldiers. We arrived at Tzahal Square, where a large group of soldiers was situated on a small traffic island. Then I saw a bmw speeding toward the soldiers, and then soldiers flying over the car, which eventually hit the wall of a building,” recounted Lieutenant Elad, a deputy company commander in the Artillery Corps. “I understood it was a terror attack and immediately cocked my rifle.”

Elad ended the attack by shooting the driver. “I noticed that the terrorist was beginning to recover, and I was afraid he would put the vehicle in reverse and run over more soldiers and civilians, so I aimed for his head and shot him 11 times through the windshield,” he said.

The driver was Qassem Mughrabi, a 19-year-old from Jebl Mukaber, a suburb in East Jerusalem. Last night’s attack is alarming for two reasons: First, although Mughrabi’s attack didn’t appear to be sparked by Jews or Israel—according to the police investigation, Mughrabi went on his automobile rampage after his cousin refused to marry him—slamming his car into Israeli soldiers and citizens was apparently the therapy of choice for the dejected, outraged Palestinian Arab.

The Palestinian news agency Ma’an reports Mughrabi was a member of Hamas. Israeli police said he had no criminal record, and there is nothing to indicate this attack was pre-planned. Mughrabi was not a known terrorist. But, filled with Hamas’s explosive ideologies, he was a time bomb waiting to explode. All it took was the right catalyst, which in this case was his cousin rejecting his hand in marriage, and he quickly became an enraged terrorist prepared to use Israeli soldiers and citizens as an outlet for his anger.

How many other Mughrabis are there in Jerusalem?

Second, Mughrabi’s use of a bmw as a weapon highlights the futility of Israel’s policy of dealing with the effects of Palestinian terrorism, rather than the cause. The Jewish state has fought (often successfully) for years to prevent explosives from falling into the wrong hands and to keep terrorists out of areas with dense Jewish populations. The government has spent millions constructing a security barrier designed to keep terrorists out of Jerusalem. This past summer, when Palestinian construction workers killed three people and wounded dozens more by taking to Jerusalem’s streets with bulldozers, Mayor Uri Lupolianski moved to restrict the movements of Arab construction workers.

So far, it appears Israel’s policy of dealing with the effects is working reasonably well. The barrier fence has been relatively successful at stopping suicide bombers from conducting their grim trade inside Jerusalem. And it’s quite likely that preventing Palestinian workers from operating bulldozers will prevent further bulldozer attacks on Jerusalem’s streets. But last night’s attack with an automobile reveals the limits of this policy. Preventing Palestinians from operating heavy machinery is one thing, preventing them from driving their vehicles is another. It’s simply impossible.

What happened last night shows that violence in Jerusalem is increasing. Qassem Mughrabi was a young Arab with no criminal record, but harbored a die-hard hatred for Israel that he acted upon in a fit of rage brought on by an unrelated matter. The fact is, Jerusalem is filled with angry Palestinian men and women that are similarly cocked and ready to explode. Sadly, we can expect more attacks like this. Why? Because Israel has too many enemies within its midst, too many leaders who are only willing to deal with the effects of Arab terrorism, and no leaders prepared to look to God in an effort to deal with the cause of Palestinian hatred for the Jewish state.

For more information, read “Bulldozing Jerusalem” and Jerusalem in Prophecy. To learn about the fundamental reasons for the Arabs’ hatred of the Jews, request The United States and Britain in Prophecy. This remarkable book will not only give you profound and piercing insight into what’s happening in the Jewish state, but into all the major events currently occurring in this out-of-control world.