Injured student; Photo credit: Honenu
Wednesday, March 27, 2019, 17:06 There is an increasing suspicion that the car-ramming incident on the night of Tuesday, March 26, near the Jaffa Gate, opposite Teddy Park was a terror attack. Two yeshiva students stood on the sidewalk, waiting for the red light to change, when suddenly a car driven by an Arab driver jumped the curb onto the sidewalk and hit them. One of the injured students testified that the driver backed up and tried to run them over again.
Avraham Arend, a 28-year-old resident of the Old City of Jerusalem and one of the injured students described the incident: “We walked down to Jaffa Gate last night, a friend and I. We reached the traffic light by Jaffa Gate, and then the car came. It smacked into us and we fell onto the ground.”
Arend added that the driver returned to hit them again, and when he did not succeed, the terrorists exited the car and hit them: “After that, he went into reverse and tried again. Then they [the terrorists] got out of the car, while we were on the ground, and started to hit and kick us. They got into the car and fled. Then the MDA [medics] arrived and evacuated us to the hospital. At the hospital they saw that my knee was broken and I needed an operation.”
Honenu Attorney Chayim Bleicher, who is representing Arend: “This was a car-ramming attack. Thank G-d the results were limited to a serious fracture in his leg, but it easily could have ended in murder. These were definitely terrorists who identified yeshiva students standing at an intersection and took advantage of the moment to carry out an attack.”
Bleicher also related to the repeated attempts to injure the students: “The [the terrorists] were not satisfied with the car-ramming. They got out of their car and beat one of the victims who was unable to escape, kicked him, and after a while fled the scene.”
In conclusion, Honenu Attorney Chayim Bleicher turned to the relevant authorities: “We demand a complete investigation of the incident, and prompt filing of charges against the terrorists for attempted murder motivated by nationalism. We will monitor the progress, come to court, and do everything within our power to see that the terrorists are prosecuted to the full extent of the law.”
On Wednesday, March 27, Bleicher sent a letter to the Jerusalem District Police Commander, demanding that the terrorists be investigated on suspicion of attempted murder and also demanding an “investigation by the Central Unit of the Yehuda and Shomron Police and the GSS and the detention of abettors and additional accomplices to terror.”