Attack in Jerusalem

Just got back from the terror attack in Jerusalem.

A tractor (driven by an Israeli Arab, resident of Tzur-Bacher, Jerusalem) went on a killing spree, smashing into cars and passer-byers. The rampage started on Sarei Yisrael street and making a left onto Yaffo st., where it also rammed 2 buses.

Updated Video: See the blue shirted 19 year old soldier, on leave from the army kill the terrorist with 3 shots. (starts at 2:35...)



About 30 wounded; 2 very seriously, 6 moderate, and about 30 less seriously.

Reports now of 5 3 dead, and about 50 wounded. The numbers keep wavering now...down to 3? Perhaps they discounted the terrorist as one of the dead.

See BBC video of the tractor smashing cars, and the the soldier taking out the terrorist.

The YouTube copy above is not bad.

Update: A 19 year old soldier, Moshe Plesser, jumped onto the tractor. Grabbing a pistol from a shell shocked YASAM policeman civilian security guard who was struggling to subdue the terrorist, Plesser shot the terrorist to death. Plesser is the nephew brother-in-law of David Shapira -- the soldier who killed the terrorist in the Merkaz Harav attack before Purim a few months ago.

Now that's a family!

(You can read Plesser's first-hand description of what happened here.)

The aftermath.

Its now a few hours later since the attack, and I wanted to compose my thoughts a bit.

At 11:55 the tractor started its journey of death, smashing into cars left and right. Around 1 minute later, I got a call from a neighbor who was listening to his Hatzala radio's Jerusalem frequency and he heard alot of intense chatter about "something going on."

He called me and told me get going...and I grabbed a co-worker (also a medic), and we ran to my car. Putting on the red strobe light, we flew out of our parking lot listening for directions where to go -- and then the picture became crystal clear.

Our Magen David Adom beepers went off simultaneously, announcing "ARAN, ARAN, ARAN" -- mass casulty attack in Jerusalem, near Yaffo street and Sarei Yisrael street. Flying low, we honked our way through traffic (most cars even go out of the way for us) as the Hatzala radio mentioned 2, maybe 3 different attack locations (many cars had been smashed, each with victims in it), plus buses...

I parked illegally on the sidewalk near the Israel Broadcasting Agency in Romema, putting my MDA sign on my car's dashboard, threw on my emergency vest, grabbed my gear and ran.

I waved to the security guard of the IBA, so he knew the car was "friendly" and he wouldn't try to tow it...ticket it...or have it blown up by police sappers.

Running down the street, towards the sires, the fire trucks, and the crowd, we passed smashed cars. Curious onlookers ran towards the scene, some were quietly on the sides of the street, others running away in panic -- and police and medical teams converged on Yaffo street.

Ducking under the crime scene tape, we ran towards the ambulances, and started helping treat the wounded and load them onto ambulances.

One woman cried and moaned, as we placed her into an ambulance, as someone (no idea if it was a relative, friend, or just someone helping out) held the injured woman's crying toddler. The ambulance sped off, and we looked for more people to help.

A policeman with a bomb sniffing dog scoured the area -- another policeman complete in bomb disposal body armor gingerly picked through bags of construction sand near one of the smashed cars, as he looked for a bomb.

35 minutes later, from the time we left, we returned back to the office.

Peeling off my gloves, my hands still shook a bit.

10 unanswered calls on my cellphone.

Time to get back to work.


Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael טובה הארץ מאד מאד