Jerusalem, Israel 13:34, IST
At the construction site of Jerusalem's light rail system near Bank Le'umi on the Jaffa Road, an Arab drove a construction vehicle, described by some as a tractor, left the site itself and entered into oncoming traffic, crashed into a bus stop with passengers, crashed into a bus, overturning it, and continued along the Jaffa Road in the direction of the Central Bus Station (from where this is being written), overturning and crashing into vehicles.
Police responded to emergency calls from the vicinity of this event from the Russian Compound, where the Zion Station is located, with motorcycles, squad cars, and trucks. According to reports that I gathered near the scene, the Arab continued with his rampage until he was killed. I saw at least seven ambulances proceeding from downtown along the Jaffa Road, where I had been awaiting a bus, as well as the police vehicles described above, and a Zak"a vehicle. Zak"a is a group of volunteers who put together body parts while sorting out the parts of corpses for cleansing (where possible) and for burial. They are usually found at terrorist bombings.
According to Israel Porges, a yeshiva student studying on Agrippas Street, a block away from the Jaffa Road, this all began around noon. From what he reports, both as a witness, and as one listening to the semi-official Kol Yisrael Radio, there had been reports flowing to Shaba"k, Israel's secret police, that a terrorist incident of some kind might occur, but this particular kind of event was evidently beyond their imagination. At this writing, 13:30 p.m., Israel Summer Time (10:30 GMT), it is still not clear to me that this has been a "terrorist" attack in the classic sense of the word, but alerts continue to flow into the Shaba"k.
It is also not yet clear whether the Arab who did this was actually a worker on the site, or someone who had gotten the keys to the vehicle. When I left the site of the event to go to the Central Bus Station to write this, the Voice of Israel had already reported two dead killed by the Arab.
Updates on this will follow later in the afternoon from Ma'ale Levona.
Article comments
1 - Baronius
Ruvy - I saw the movie "Ararat" recently. I couldn't really recommend it, but it was interesting. It was about the lives of modern Armenians, and how they dealt with the Genocide. One character put it in a way that I'd never thought about - that the ongoing pain wasn't about the loss of lives, or the land, but the knowledge that you could be so hated. I can only imagine the toll it must take on your countrymen, who fled Russia or Germany only to be treated like this by your new neighbors.
2 - Ruvy
Baronius,
The thing that kills morale here is not the hatred of the Arabs. This a given and taken for granted. What kills morale is the refusal of the Israeli government to do what is necessary to secure the country from Arab terror. It is really a lot simpler than the hand-wringing traitors on Government Hill and their little pups at Ha'aretz, Yediot AHronot and Ma'ariv, the three major Hebrew dailies, make it sound. But these solutions take guts and steady nerves, which are in terribly short supply in Israel these days....
3 - Baronius
Ruvy, I don't imagine that hatred is new or surprising. But the constancy of it has got to take its toll. To endure something as big as intercontinental hatred, the psyche must give it a meaning. It would turn some people into basket cases, bending over backwards for some sign of acceptance. It would harden others, leaving them itching for a fight. There's no way that much psychological duress could be absorbed harmlessly.
4 - The Obnoxious American
Ruvy,
This attack was actually ok, because the Arab in question was not part of Hamas, and therefor had no responsibility to abide by the truce. Just like the rocket attacks last week were by Islamic Jihad, and also were not covered by the truce. Next time, read the fine print in these truces, I'd suggest getting a good jewish lawyer...(END SARCASM)
Meanwhile the UN claims that it is the Israelis who are violating the Hamas called truce.
5 - Christopher Rose
Ruvy, re your #2; by "But these solutions take guts and steady nerves" you undoubtedly mean negotiating a series of just agreements with your neighbours...
6 - Ruvy
OA,
Thank you for putting the ...(END SARCASM) in your post. I would have hectoring you no end otherwise. These bastards are creative, I'll give them that. I'm petty good at figuring out ways to kill people and this prick came up with something that left my mouth hanging open when I realized what he had done.
Lots of Arabs make reasonably steady money in construction in Israel and when someone pulls shit off like this, it mkes you wonder whether we should employ Arabs at all - for anything. It reminds me of two occasions when Arabs from places like Beit Hanina and Jebl Mukabr (or shuld it be Macabre?) working as cooks tried to poison the customers in the Jewish restaurants where they worked, and is very similar to the shooting at the Yeshivat Merkaz haRav where the killer was a van driver who wsas known to the yeshiva students and who was welcomed with open arms at a rosh Hodesh celebration.
7 - Ruvy
Meanwhile the UN claims that it is the Israelis who are violating the Hamas called truce.
Who gives a crap what the idiots at the UN say? They are worthless pieces of shit anyway who should be kicked out of this country altogether. Let them go back to screwing barmaids in Poland, Sweden, Finland, Canada and India. We don't need them or the lying scum who command them.
8 - Ruvy
Ruvy, re your #2; by "But these solutions take guts and steady nerves" you undoubtedly mean negotiating a series of just agreements with your neighbours....
Sure, Chris. Definitely. Uh huh.... Let me just get out the gun oil, so I can do something useful while reading your brilliant observations....
9 - Dave Nalle
Of course, the title might be closer to the truth than the text. It could just be an Arab construction worker who finally cracked under the constant strain of searches and checkpoints and being treated like a second-class citizen and exploited by his own leaders and just snapped.
Dave
10 - Christopher Rose
Ruvy, the next time you do something useful, as opposed to hateful, will be the first time...
11 - Cannonshop
As high as tensions (always) are, the thing that struck me about this event, was how very...um...well...AMERICAN it is. A few years ago, a fellow who had a gripe with his town Council plated up a D-9 and took a spin through his local down-town, paying particular attention to businesses.
Seems to me, this guy might just have snapped-like, as in for real, honest to pete flipped his lid and had a good old fashioned psychotic event. considering how apparently available explosives, weapons, etc. etc. are, a bulldozer's really kind of an improvised weapon, and If I recall correctly, Arabs ride those buses and drive that road too-and he was pretty indiscriminate if the press reports are any kind of accurate.
12 - Ruvy
Dave, Cannonshop,
Having lived near Tsur BaHer myself, I can tell you that there were occasional checkpoints and searches conducted by the Border Patrol. Recently, these searches have been cut down some due to a fancy electronic monitoring system that is supposed to detect even a rabbit running across a field.
Of course, unless you are prey to every conspiracy theory on the planet, you will not believe that a person's mind can be detected.
The weak link in the line of reasoning you both present is this. Two residents of Tsur BaHer both came up with unusual ways to kill Jews. It is quite likely, given that it is generally known that Al Qaeda and other terror groups have been active in Tsur BaHer, that they came up with something different. Using a bulldozer as a weapon was indeed outside the box thinking, in spite of the three unfortunate people who wound up inside the box because of it. If my followup article gets published before the arrival of the messiah, you will be able to see that you are not alone in your thinking, however.