Two die in Jerusalem terrorist attack
At around 7:30 p.m. on Saturday evening (October 3, 2015), a knife-wielding Arab attacked Aharon Bennett, his wife, their 2-year-old son and infant who were on their way to pray at the Western Wall in Jerusalem’s Old City.
Rabbi Nehemia Lavi and Aharon Bennett killed in stabbing attack in Jerusalem Photo: MFA
Rabbi Nehemia Lavi, an Old City resident and IDF reserve officer, went down with his gun to try to save those wounded by the Arab terrorist in the attack, but the terrorist stabbed him and seized his weapon.
Despite being seriously injured, Bennett’s wife Adele managed to run and alert a group of Border Police forces nearby who shot and killed the attacker. The 2-year-old was lightly wounded and the infant was unharmed.
Lavi and Bennett, who were stabbed in the upper body and were unconscious when paramedics arrived at the scene, died in hospital shortly afterwards.
Rabbi Lavi, a father of seven, has lived in the Old City for the past 23 years and is a rabbi at Yeshivat Ateret Kohanim. Aharon Bennett was serving in the IDF as part of the special program for the ultra-religious.
The attacker was identified as Mohammad Halabi, a 19-year-old Palestinian law student at Al-Quds University from a village near Ramallah. The Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack. Hamas praised the attack as “heroic”.
Following the attack, Israel’s president Reuven Rivlin said: “We are facing a difficult, daily, and ongoing struggle. We have always known that the struggle against terrorism demands determination and inner fortitude, and we will reach the murderers of the innocent, and those who send them to kill.I pray for the recovery of the injured and my deepest sympathies go to the families of the bereaved.
I wish to offer my support to the security forces operating now across Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, and the whole country, in their uncompromising work against the murderers and their dispatchers.
We must all work together to restore the sense of security to our citizens across the country.”
Earlier this week Naama Henkin, 30, and her husband Eitam, of Neria, parents of four, were killed in a drive-by shooting attack on the road between Itamar and Elon Moreh in Samaria.
Naama Henkin
Rabbi Eitam Henkin
Rabbi Eitam Henkin and his wife Naama were driving home from a reunion of yeshiva graduates, with four of their children in the back seat. At least two terrorists targeted the vehicle as the Henkins drove past the Arab village of Beit Furik. Both parents suffered multiple gunshot wounds to their upper bodies and were pronounced dead at the scene.
“Palestinian” Arab youth murders two Jews.
Marvellous how language can either enhance or detract from communication.