American Tourist Dead, More Than 10 Wounded — Including Pregnant Woman, 2 Arabs — in 3 Terrorist Attacks at Different Locations in Israel
Error: Contact form not found.
by Ruthie Blum
A Magen David Adom ambulance. Photo: MDA.
An American tourist was killed and 10 other people were wounded, three critically — a pregnant woman and two Arabs — in a stabbing attack in Jaffa and Tel Aviv on Tuesday evening, Israel’s Channel 2 reported.
According to ongoing reports, a Palestinian terrorist went on a 20-minute stabbing spree in the area of the Jaffa Port and the Tel Aviv Promenade, where security forces managed to shoot and kill him, after a civilian chased and tackled him, after hitting him with a guitar. The terrorist was later identified as a 22-year-old Bashar Masalha, a resident of Qalqilya in the West Bank, who had recently visited Mecca.
The American tourist was identified as 29-year-old Vanderbilt University graduate student Taylor Force.
This comes less than an hour after two other terrorist attacks were committed – one in Jerusalem and another in Petah Tikvah.
Two policeman were wounded when a terrorist on a motorcycle opened fire at a group of officers guarding the area of the Damascus Gate in Jerusalem’s Old City. One policeman was wounded critically and a second policeman was moderately wounded in the attack. Magen David Adom reported that both suffered from gunshot wounds to the head.
The terrorist was shot and killed.
Shortly before that, a 40-year-old haredi man was wounded moderately in a stabbing attack in Petah Tikvah. According to Channel 2, the victim was stabbed in the neck by an Arab who followed him into a shop (where the victim was collecting tzedakkah, or a charitable donation. The victim removed the knife and began stabbing the terrorist. Both were subsequently treated by Magen David Adom paremedics. The terrorist, later identified as a resident of Qalqilya, died of his wounds.
These attacks were the latest surge in Palestinian violence against Israelis that began in September. They occurred just as US Vice President Joe Biden landed at Ben Gurion International Airport, where he and his wife were greeted by Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon, Israeli Ambassador to the US Ron Dermer and US Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro, before going to Jaffa — right near where the last attack took place — for a meeting with former president Shimon Peres at the Peres Center for Peace.
