Hamas Praises Jerusalem Terror Attack

Ilia Yefimovich/Getty Images(BEIRUT) — One Israeli police officer was killed and at least 13 others were wounded Wednesday morning when a Palestinian man plowed a white van into a crowd of pedestrians waiting for a light rail train in East Jerusalem, authorities said.

The attacker was a member of the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which later praised the attack, calling it revenge for recent Israeli actions at the sacred Al-Aqsa Mosque.

In a two-stage assault, Ibrahim al-Akri, 38, drove a van first into a station in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah, striking, among others, Jadan Assad, a 38-year-old Border Patrol captain, authorities said. Akri then drove farther down the street before getting out of the van with a bar, attacking surrounding cars. He was then shot and killed by police.

Assad later died of his injuries, according to authorities, and at least three others are reportedly in critical condition.

A Hamas statement issued Wednesday afternoon praised Akri, an East Jerusalem resident, as a “son of the movement.” The statement said the attack was a natural reaction to recent Israeli settler and security actions at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound — known as the Temple Mount to Jews — the third-holiest site in Islam and the holiest in Judaism.

Muslim worshipers in the compound on Wednesday clashed with Israeli police, accused by those praying there of storming the complex.

The compound — known as Haram al-Sharif, or the Noble Sanctuary to Muslims — has been at the center of recent growing tension in Jerusalem.

The Israeli Defense Forces said a second incident on Wednesday in the West Bank left three IDF soldiers injured. An IDF statement said that a Palestinian vehicle attempted to run the soldiers over.

“The IDF is conducting a wide spread search in the region to locate the vehicle and its driver,” the statement read. No further details were released regarding a suspect or the vehicle involved.

The soldiers were taken for medical treatment, though the IDF did not provide their medical status.

Last week, American-born activist Rabbi Yehuda Glick was targeted in an assassination attempt. Glick is part of the right-wing movement to replace the Al-Aqsa Mosque with the Third Temple. He also campaigned for the rights of Jews to pray on the Temple Mount, which is forbidden.

Glick was shot as he left an event called “Israel Returns to the Temple Mount.” Israeli police quickly shot and killed a Palestinian they suspected of being behind the shooting.

Clashes and attacks have been growing for months, fueling fears of a third Palestinian “Intifada,” or uprising.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of inciting Wednesday morning’s attack.

“We are in the midst of a struggle for Jerusalem and I have no doubt that we will triumph,” the prime minister said, according to the Haaretz newspaper. “We are deploying all the forces that we can. It could be a prolonged struggle and we need to unite the entire nation behind it.”

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