Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat subdued a terrorist who had just stabbed an Israeli man. PHOTO: Hatzalah

A 27-year-old Haredi youth was stabbed on Sunday by an Arab assailant in IDF Square in Jerusalem, near City Hall. Jerusalem’s Mayor Nir Barkat, happened to be passing by, and along with his security detail, succeeded in subduing the terrorist and preventing a more serious attack, Israel’s NRG news website reported.

Mayor Barkat said that, “I was driving near IDF Square, and suddenly my security detail saw the terrorist near us with a knife. I immediately jumped out of the car with my body guard. He drew his weapon on the attacker, and we both caught the terrorist, holding him until the police arrived. We then immediately took care of the injured young man, and fortunately his injury wasn’t too serious.”

In an interview with Channel 2, Barkat – who had served as a company commander in the Paratroopers Brigade – added, “We were on our way to a meeting to be held in the municipality. When we arrived at IDF Square, my security detail noticed what was going on, and my body guard and I got out of the car. We saw a young man holding a knife. My bodyguard drew his weapon on the terrorist, who then threw away the knife. We didn’t think twice, we jumped on him and brought him to the ground. If he hadn’t dropped the knife, he wouldn’t have remained alive. When he was finally neutralized, we attended to the young man who was stabbed in his stomach. We waited for the police to arrive, and to my relief and joy, the whole incident ended fairly quickly.”

Murad Salman, a Magen David Adom Paramedic who arrived at the scene, said, “when we arrived, we saw a young man of about 27 years lying on the pavement in the Square, near the railroad tracks close to City Hall. He was bleeding from  a stab wound to his upper body. He was fully conscious and said that he had felt that someone had suddenly stabbed him. And when the stabber tried to stab him again, he fought with him with the aid of a wedding gift that he was holding in his hand, preventing additional injuries. We gave him medical treatment, which included stopping the bleeding, and gave him fluids. We then evacuated him to a hospital.”

The  youth was taken to Shaare Tzedek hospital in Jerusalem. Salman added that his condition was defined as moderately serious.

Police are investigating the incident, and so far have determined that nationalistic motives were behind it. The attacker was an 18-year-old Palestinian man from the West Bank, who was in the area of the Jerusalem Municipality without authorization.

The mayor, wearing a white shirt, can be seen tackling the terrorist in the video below: