Op Ed - The Latest Attack in Jerusalem

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Jake from Jerusalem has written an informative piece on the latest murderous attack in Yerushalayim. I think it is important for people to know the facts from regular Israeli citizens rather than just relying on press reports.

Today's attack on Yaffo Street in the center of town received lots of press coverage and you have probably seen / read about it. However, some inaccuracies have also been reported - some of them quite significant - so I have some clarifications.

The attack occurred on the stretch of Yaffo Street between Sarei Yisra'el and the Israel Broadcast Authority offices in the former Sha'arei Zedek hospital. I have walked by there many times. A number of foreign press organizations have offices across the street so that some of them actually witnessed this extraordinary attack. They were able to provide immediate coverage, both from their windows overlooking the street and from the street level.

I have no doubt that the attacker would have continued on to the Machane Yehuda market, just a 1 minute walk from where the attacker was finally stopped. My mother was shopping there at the time; her cellphone didn't respond for a while and we were concerned. She later told me that the Arabs working in the market heard of the attack and stood proud with the events. This behavior has repeated in previous attacks, as well.

Many reports claim that an Israeli policeman shot the attacker, but this is not quite correct. The construction vehicle involved is a monstrously large vehicle. The attacker started his rampage near the corner of Sarei Yisra'el and was shot at by a policewoman. He then repeatedly rammed a bus several times with the front-end loader shovel before picking the bus up with the shovel and overturning it. Along the way, he drove over and crushed several vehicles. At least one van was run over several times. The silver Toyota had it's roof pulled off by the shovel; I believe that the woman at the wheel was killed but her baby in the back seat is safe.

An armed civilian managed to climb up on the vehicle and struggled to wrest control of the still-moving vehicle. An off-duty IDF soldier, about 19 years old, jumped off his bicycle and also climbed onto the bulldozer. The off-duty soldier, in short pants and a blue t-shirt, took the pistol from the struggling civilian and shot the Arab attacker, I believe three times. Only then did the bulldozer come to a stop. A uniformed anti-terrorist policeman (you may have seen them in Jerusalem; they ride around in pairs on trail bikes, dressed in black) then climbed up and fired a few more shots, to ascertain that this attack had stopped. (Remember that the attacker had already been shot at before and managed to kill people since those earlier shots.)

In what the Jerusalem Post described as "a surreal coincidence", the young off-duty IDF soldier who jumped from his bike onto the bulldozer is a brother-in-law of the man who shot dead the previous attacker, at Merkaz HaRav, just a few months ago. I heard the young fellow on TV and he said that he took his brother-in-law as an example of proper behavior and knew to do the right thing. He heard the Arab attacker screaming "Allahu Akhbar" (Allah is greater, i.e. greater than any other god) before he was shot dead (perhaps demonstrating that Allah is not so Akhbar after all).

I watched some of the video clips during live TV coverage, some of them I probably saw a few dozen times. In the video which shows a man holding a pistol as the bulldozer moves away from the camera before coming to a stop http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/998294.html (Beware: this contains some graphic images, AE), the bulldozer is seen to rock side to side before coming to rest. This is where it climbs onto and crushes another car, killing it's occupant immediately. This happened in the last two seconds of the attack. That person might be alive and well if the attacker had been shot dead just a few seconds earlier.

The wild claims of Leftist and "Palestinian" so-called "human rights" organizations have made Israeli police and soldiers very, very hesitant to fire upon terrorist suspects. The MainStreamMedia give the false impression that Israelis are trigger-happy, though this is the opposite of the truth. What if the attacker had been shot 4 or 5 seconds earlier? What if he had been shot dead 40 seconds earlier? Would we have been spared most of the dead and injured? Had the attacker continued into the crowded Machane Yehuda market, the dead and injured list would easily have risen ten-fold. (Last I heard, three people were killed besides the attacker, and about 70 were injured, at least one suffering an amputation.)

Comments on the web from the usual quarters try to justify this attack and also question the killing of the Arab attacker. Experience shows that the sooner such murderers are cut down, the fewer innocents are hurt.

A Horrendous Situation

We are all shocked and saddened by the latest murderous attack in Israel today. Eight lives were taken at Yeshivat Merkaz HaRav in Jerusalem and 11 are wounded. What makes it hit closer to home is that these boys are Yeshiva Bochurim. It is difficult to know what to say and difficult to understand how this could have happened in a country and city where security is paramount.

I received an email from Menachem Kirschenbaum (who writes the Portrait of a Leader blog) with an excerpt from the new book The Rebbe: Inspiring a Generation. I am including his full email as I believe that it is worth reading.

In connection to the massacre that took place in Yerushalayim today, in which the lives of a number of Yeshiva Students were taken from this world. The following is a very moving and uplifting "Yechidus" that took place with an IDF commander and the Rebbe, regarding the Death of two Israeli Soldiers following the Yom Kippur war in 1973. It's an Excerpt from the new book on the Rebbe to see more information about the book click: www.inspiringageneration.com also included is an interesting picture of the Rebbe (part 94 in the series)

"Battle weary and depressed by the constant fighting, the officer expressed his wish that there be no more combat with enemies. Being realistic, however, and acknowledging that it was highly plausible that there would more conflict, he asked the Rebbe's opinion on whether there would be another war, or whether perhaps the Arabs had been so discouraged, during the Yom Kippur War, that they would never muster the confidence to fight again.

"At the moment," came the reply, "the Arabs are merely unable to attack. However, given time to recover and regroup, they will surely seek opportunities to instigate conflict. To further crush their forces and minimize the chance of future clashes, the army should have advanced to Damascus and Cairo when it had the chance. Although the government did not approve, the army should have continued anyway–ignoring the lack of permission from the government. It was a crucial and perilous moment, and we should have continued pressing the main cities.

"Why didn't Arik Sharon continue going into Cairo?" the Rebbe exclaimed. "He was just one hundred kilometers from there! Excusing the decision, the government claims that there was insufficient fuel to reach there. However, this is very difficult to accept; the Egyptians seemed to have no shortage of fuel, and if Sharon, as conqueror, had decided to use that fuel, no one could prevent him.

"Have you ever flown over Cairo?" asked the Rebbe, staring inquisitively at the officer.

"Yes," the officer responded, proceeding to describe with minute detail the layout of the city.

"In that case," challenged the Rebbe, "why didn't you take the necessary planes, fly there, and conquer the city yourself? Coming in with those planes, you would have easily surprised them and effortlessly taken control. If that had been accomplished, with Cairo in our hands for even a very short period, the present situation would be completely different. "

Unable to persuade the Rebbe to accept his position, the military officer asked about something which had been troubling him for a long time. In a devastating fashion, his close friend Zurik was recently murdered during a terrorist attack, just two years after Zurik's losing his brother Udi in the latest war. It was inconceivable that one family should deserve to bear so much anguish, losing two members in a short span. How could G-d have permitted this? Where was He?

Distressed at the tale of sorrow and unable to control his tears, the Rebbe began to weep. He finally replied, "Indeed, the story you tell me is frightening and upsetting; we are tempted, when hearing such an account, to question G-d and conclude that He does not really dictate what transpires in this world. We must, however, remember that we mortals cannot aspire to understand the intricacies of His divine wisdom.

"Having studied Torah all my life, at seventy-three years old and still studying and adding to my Torah knowledge, I feel that I have attained a level of wisdom. Nonetheless, the extent of my wisdom is ridiculous when compared to G-d's. Therefore, we must not come to preposterous conclusions based on our judgment of events around us. Although there is much we do not comprehend, often in retrospect we come to an appreciation of the righteousness of His decisions. Perhaps time will demonstrate the virtue of Udi's and Zurik's premature deaths; perchance, many Jewish fatalities were avoided as a result of these casualties."

"Are you worried," asked the officer, moving to a new topic, "about living as a Jew here in Brooklyn, in a non-Jewish environment?"

"As a soldier you are surely aware," answered the Rebbe, "that during the time of combat there is no chance to reflect on your fear. You must fight with courage and sincerity, regardless of how you feel. Similarly, when I am immersed in my work, even if the extraneous conditions are unfriendly, I have faith and trust in G-d, because He alone controls what takes place here on earth, and is looking out for the interests of every Jew."

"But," persisted the Israeli, "why don't you move to Israel? Your revered stature and dynamic manner will certainly influence the political and religious scene. Aware that many people questioned you regarding this, I have heard several different replies, but, the replies are unsatisfactory, and for me the question remains."

The Rebbe answered, "Living in Israel and enduring the responsibilities that would come with it, my influence on world Jewry would be restricted. Inevitably, my controversial position on issues would limit my capability of communicating with Jews, both outside of Israel, in Moscow, for example, and in Israel; in fact, even this conversation would be impossible in Tel Aviv. I find this place the most conducive for my work."