Bulldozer Rampage Kills Four In Jerusalem

Jerusalem – An Arab resident of Jerusalem sped with a bulldozer down Jerusalem’s busiest street just before noon yesterday, ramming buses and crushing cars. At least four people were killed in this unprecedented attack.

Two policemen caught up with the bulldozer and climbed inside, after a policewoman shot the driver but did not kill him. They first struggled with the terrorist-driver, and the driver stopped – but then abruptly started up again, until he was shot and killed, putting an end to the murderous spree.

Some 45 people were injured. Two bodies were extricated from the wrecked cars, and one woman died of her wounds on the way to the hospital.

An eyewitness said that he saw the bulldozer ram the bus several times, and then continue on in his attempt to run down passers-by and cars. “Some cars were able to get away, but at least one was not, and he rammed his shovel right into the windshield,” the man said.

The Arab is a 30-year-old father of two from the Arab neighborhood of Tzur Baher in southern Jerusalem -the same neighborhood in which the perpetrator of the March 6 seminary slaughter lived.

The security services are investigating whether the terrorist was acting alone and without backing from a known terrorist organization, as was apparently the case this past March, when an eastern Jerusalem terrorist murdered eight students in Yeshivat Merkaz HaRav.

Man Who Killed Terrorist Provides First-Hand Account

Moshe Plesser, the yeshiva seminary student who is also an off-duty soldier, killed the bulldozer-driver terrorist. Mr. Plesser explained how he and security guard Oron Ben-Shimon stopped the murderous rampage, in a written statement that he prepared one hour after the terror attack.

He began by calling the attack a “murderous attack on our holy and beloved land, part of the war in which we find ourselves.” He then thanked all those who, he said, had a hand in helping him act correctly: “First of all, thanks to God, and secondly to the education and upbringing I received, beginning in the Morashah Talmud Torah in Jerusalem, and then the Dimona Yeshiva High School, and then the Yitzhar and Kiryat Arba Hesder yeshivot, and finally to my army training, for helping me act in the way every soldier and citizen should. I also wish to thank my brother-in-law David Shapira for serving as a personal example. [Mr. Shapira was one of the two who killed the terrorist in the March 6 terror attack on a Jewish religious seminary in Jerusalem, when an Arab terrorist gunned down eight seminary boys in cold blood.]”

“As far as what happened,” Mr. Plesser continued: “I was bicycling from the center of town [westward] towards my home, when I saw a bulldozer battering a bus lying on its side and a lot of commotion. I immediately realized that it was a terrorist attack. I threw the bicycle to the side, and I ran towards the scene, trying to get as close as I could to the bulldozer so that I could get on it and stop the driver. As I got closer, I tried to somehow get a weapon. When the bulldozer stopped, a policeman climbed up, and I climbed up right behind him, screaming at him to shoot.”

“Oron Ben-Shimon, with whom I was privileged to cooperate in stopping the terrorist, also climbed up, and he and the policeman tried to stop him with their hands. At first I could not shoot him, because the policeman stood in between us and the terrorist. The terrorist suddenly got up and started to drive again, screaming out ‘Allahu Akbar,’ and Oron was able to turn the steering wheel so that the bulldozer wouldn’t run over more cars. Finally, I was able to grab Oron’s gun and shoot over the heads of the policeman and Oron, three bullets to his head. Then a Yassam policeman got on and fired again to ascertain his death.”

Oron Ben-Shimon, a security guard at a nearby medical clinic, also took part in killing the terrorist. He said that when he saw the shovel of the bulldozer mowing things down, “I ran towards it. When I got there, the bulldozer was stopped, I got up on it – Moshe helped me – and we tried to stop the driver, who looked like he was fainted on the steering wheel. But then he suddenly got up and started the bulldozer going again. I couldn’t get to my gun, and also the policeman was in between me and the terrorist – so I punched him and that stunned him … Then Moshe – who really deserves all credit; of all the people there, he was the one who responded the most correctly – quickly realized what was happening, and took the gun from my holster and shot the terrorist three times in the head. Then a policeman got on board, shot another bullet, and that was it.”

Following the attack, the Hamas terror organization, which rules Gaza, issued a statement on the Hamas radio station, calling the attack “understandable”

Accountability Of The Israeli Government

Yesterday afternoon, The Bulletin contacted the office of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert about the Israeli government’s response to the Hamas:

The Bulletin forwarded a statement to the Israeli court from two weeks ago in which the government of Israel took a position that it will NOT garnish the assets of Hamas for a Hamas terror victim family and that the government of Israel states that it is the position of the government that the Hamas should NOT be dismantled.

In light of the fact that the Hamas praised the attack in Jerusalem, The Bulletin asked three questions of Mr. Olmert.

1. Why will the Israeli government not dismantle the Hamas?

2. Since Hamas in Gaza uses radio and TV frequencies that are owned by the state of Israel that were loaned to the Palestinians in 1994 for them to advance the cause of peace, why do you not cut off these frequencies or at least reclaim them for the state of Israel?

3. Why does the Israeli government not kill the leaders of Hamas who publicly praise and plan the murders of Jews, in the same way that the Israeli government killed Hamas leaders Mr. Yassin and Dr. Rantisi in 2004?

No answer was forthcoming from Mr. Olmert’s communications office to these queries that followed yesterday’s terror attack in downtown Jerusalem.

David Bedein can be reached at dbedein@israelbehindthenews.com. His Web site is www.IsraelBehindTheNews.com

©The Bulletin 2008