Israel Matzav

And again: Two soldiers stabbed by 'Palestinian' at Cave of the Patriarchs

Two border policemen were stabbed this afternoon by a 'Palestinian' at the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron. One of the policemen was stabbed in the back and seriously wounded, the other was stabbed in the hand and lightly wounded. A border policeman shot and wounded the 17-year old terrorist.

Arutz Sheva and Haaretz are both reporting that the terrorist opened the door of a border patrol jeep and stabbed two policemen sitting inside. Arutz Sheva places the jeep between the Cave and Hadassah house. YNet and the Jerusalem Post have the terrorist arriving from the 'Palestinian' side of the cave and YNet has him stabbing the policemen near a checkpoint. YNet (among others) has some political reactions:

Orit Struck, a representative of the Jewish settlers in Hebron, called on Defense Minister Amir Peretz to focus on solving the security problems in her city and in the entire country, "Instead of looking for excuses under the ground for removing Jews from their homes."

Knesset Member Nissan Slomiansky (National Union-National Religious Party) said that the stabbing attack in Hebron was a "direct response to comments made by the defense minister, who chooses to engage in expelling Jews from a legally purchased house to gain support towards elections in his party," referring to the house near Hebron taken over by Jewish settlers several weeks ago.

"Peretz should be concerned about saving lives of Jewish people and not his political career," added Slomiansky.

Arutz Sheva adds:

An estimated 50,000 Jews visited the Jewish areas of Hevron on Wednesday and Thursday, without incident.

Just a month ago, a female Arab terrorist was caught near the Machpelah Cave with a knife; she said she had planned to stab a soldier. Six months ago, a soldier was stabbed in the same area.

Shifra Hoffman, founder of Victims of Arab Terror (VAT International), says that this and other terrorist attacks against Israelis are directly related to the government's willingness to release murderous terrorists from prison. She told Arutz-7 today, "The Government of Israel, with its policies of appeasement and cowardice, must be held responsible for all future attacks that may be perpetrated by the terrorist murderers that it plans to release in exchange for [hostage IDF soldier] Gilad Shalit. VAT International believes that this is double jeopardy; the Government of Israel is murdering the Jewish victims of Arab terror a second time by releasing their murderers."

Hevron activist resident Baruch Marzel, too, said that today's attack was a response to talk of releasing terrorist murderers such as Marwan Barghouti, as well as 1,300 other imprisoned terrorists, in exchange for Gilad Shalit.

Haaretz adds:

Initial reports said that the Palestinian had been killed, but medics later said his wounds were light and not life-threatening.

"Two Israeli border policemen were stabbed. One sustained moderate wounds and the other was lightly injured," an IDF spokesman said. "The attacker was shot in the leg. He is alive."

You can see pictures of today's attack at the Hebron community website both in Hebrew and in English.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 2:12 PM