Israeli police officers (illustrative). Photo: Mark Probst via Wikimedia Commons.

JNS.org – A Palestinian terrorist stabbed an Israeli Arab in Petah Tikva on Monday in what authorities have described as a case of mistaken identity.

The Arab victim, a 32-year-old bus driver, was mistaken for being Jewish and was stabbed in the neck by the terrorist as he stood next to a shawarma stand in the city center. The victim was rushed to Rabin Medical Center with severe injuries. The terrorist reportedly informed police, “I did it for Al-Aqsa,” referring to the mosque on the Temple Mount.

The terrorist, a 21-year-old Palestinian from Qalqilya who was in Israel illegally, attempted to flee the scene after the stabbing, but was tackled by pedestrians and handed over to police. The Palestinian had been imprisoned from 2015-2016 for a terror attack.

A driver reportedly helped stop the terrorist by hitting him with his car. Other reports said a local restaurant worker hit the terrorist with a wooden pizza tray and subdued him.

The incident was the latest in a series of terror attacks carried out in retaliation for Israel’s decision to add metal detectors at the entrance gates to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. A Palestinian terrorist last Friday fatally stabbed an Israeli father and two of his adult children inside their home in the West Bank community of Halamish, vowing “revenge” for Al-Aqsa in a Facebook before carrying out the attack.