Copycat Attack

Jeremy Last - Wednesday 23rd July 2008


Calls for more punitive measures to be taken against East Jerusalem Arabs involved in anti-Israel attacks increased after terror returned to the streets of Jerusalem on Tuesday.

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An Arab construction worker drove his digger vehicle down a busy main street on Tuesday afternoon, overturning three cars and injuring 24 people.

No one was killed in the incident on King David Street which appeared to be an attempt to copy the devastating bulldozer attack of three weeks ago when three people were killed by an Arab construction worker who drove his vehicle down Jaffa Street on July 2.

It was the third attack in five months carried out in Israel's capital city by an East Jerusalem Arab resident .

Just like Husam Taysir Dwayat, who carried out the attack on Jaffa Street, and Alaa Abu Dhein who shot eight students dead in the Mercaz Harav yeshiva in February, Tuesday's attacker also held a blue Israeli ID card which gives easy access throughout the country.

Ghassan Abu Tir, a 22-year-old resident of the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Umm Tuba, was working on a construction project on a side street close to the junction with Keren Hayesod Street when he began his zig zag drive down the King David Street.

The attack occurred just a few hundred meters from the King David Hotel where British Prime Minister Gordon Brown had been staying the day before and US presidential candidate Barack Obama stayed on Tuesday night.


After Abu Tir attempted to overturn a number 13 Egged bus which swerved and managed to escape, the attack was ended within a few minutes when a border police shot the East Jerusalem terrorist from the road, killing him.

According to Jerusalem police chief commander Aharon Franco, the attacker only managed to drive 160 meters before he was killed.

Shmuel Sackett, International Director of Likud Party faction Manhigut Yehudit, witnessed the events unfold as he was walking to meet a colleague.

"We started walking when, about 10 feet in front of us, we saw a large bulldozer drop his huge bucket in an attempt to crush a woman crossing the street. Thank G-d, she managed to avoid it by a few inches.

"The bulldozer - now obviously to us driven by a terrorist - then raced into the middle of King David Street in an attempt to smash into a passing commuter bus. The driver quickly swerved out of the way yet the bulldozer managed to smash into the rear of the bus on the "passenger" side."

Sackett described how he ran after the vehicle as it ploughed into three cars before a Border Policeman shot about seven bullets from his M-16.

"The bulldozer came to a stop and the terror was over," Sackett recalled.

As he has done in the past, Public Security Minister Avi Dichter said strong action should be taken against the families of terrorists.

"I believe that the homes of these terrorists need to be demolished and that those who helped them expelled from the city," Dichter said. "That is the best deterrent."

Defence Minister Ehud Barak gave a more muted response. "The attack is a reminder of our complicated reality in Jerusalem, in the Gaza Strip with Hamas, in Lebanon with Hizbullah and even with Iran," Barak said. "This is a complicated reality but we are a strong nation."

The attack was condemned by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. "I condemn the attack and as always I wholeheartedly oppose all acts of terror," said Abbas, who was meeting with Israeli President Shimon Peres at his official residence just a few minutes from the location of the attack when it occurred.

By Tuesday evening all of those injured in the attack had been released from hospital except for one man who had part of his leg severed when he was trapped between two cars which were rammed by the terrorist.

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