Jerusalem – The police presence has been increased in the downtown area of the city in the wake of Tuesday’s terrorist attack by a backhoe driver that left the terrorist dead and injured 28 others.

Police have tightened supervision of Arab workers at building sites throughout the city and dedicated patrols at the sites.

This was the third terror attack in the capital committed in the past six months by Arab residents of East Jerusalem. “There is a need to create a more effective deterrent by demolishing houses, denying rights of families of the perpetrators and other measures,” Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said.

Police were also brought into the terrorist’s village of Umm Tuba in the southern part of the city, where police are worried about the possibility of clashes between Israeli and Arab residents.

Commander of the Jerusalem District Police Cmdr. Aharon Franko last night forbade the erection of traditional Islamic mourning tent at the home of the terrorist.

Eyewitnesses Recount The Incident

Throughout the day yesterday, the sordid details of the bulldozer attack were discussed on radio newscasts.

In the attack, on King David Street, a total of 28 people were hurt.

Doctors at Hadassah University Hospital spent the day fighting to save the left leg of Attorney Shuki Kremer, legal adviser to the Israel Basketball Association.

It all happened very quickly. The backhoe driver, Ghasan Abu-Tir, 22, who was laying pipes in George Washington Street at the corner of Keren Hayesod Street for Jerusalem’s inner rail service line, suddenly drove out at full speed into Keren Hayesod Street.

Mr. Avi Levy, driver of a Number-13 bus, was driving by the entrance to George Washington Street when the backhoe rammed his bus, rocking it.

“I thought I had struck some car or that I had caused an accident,” he said. “I couldn’t see the [backhoe] in my right view mirror. And then, suddenly, he made a U-turn, came at me from the left at full speed, and smashed the shovel into the passengers’ windows. I saw death staring me in the face. I put my foot down on the accelerator, swung round into Mapu Street and got away from him.”

Mr. Avraham Levi, 70, was sitting in his van at the time of the attack. “He rammed the car behind me, and sent it smashing into the rear of my van,” Mr. Levi said. “The car was completely destroyed. Then he tried to overturn my van too. I escaped to the right, and he struck the car in front of me and overturned it on its side.”

“I saw the tractor chasing the bus, and suddenly it turned towards me,” said Mr. David Levy, 62, from Mevasseret Tziyon. “I stepped on the gas but the shovel struck my car on the left side, stopping me. I jumped out and got away.”

The terrorist managed to hit five cars and a bus before he was stopped and killed by an armed passer-by.

When the backhoe attack in King David Street took place, Mr. Asael was in his car on the way to pick up his wife Tzofit from her work, for a family holiday in the north. “I realized immediately that it was a terrorist attack. There was no doubt about it,” Mr. Asael said. “I stopped the car, took my pistol and fired at the bulldozer. I did what had to be done. I don’t think I’m a hero.”

Mr. Asael, a former Israeli army-tank company commander, who now grows grapes and cherries in the Jewish farming community of Sussiya in the southern Hebron Hills. He also teaches the Bible at the yeshiva high school in Kiryat Arba.

“He showed presence of mind and resourcefulness,” said his brother, Mr. Amotz Asael, a senior writer at The Jerusalem Post. “He has been like that since he was a child. When something has to be done he knows exactly what it is and how to do it.”

The attack took place not far from the King David Hotel, where Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama was staying.

The Terrorist-Relative Of Senior Hamas Member Abu Tir

The terrorist belonged to clan of Hamas spokesperson Sheikh Muhammad Abu Tir, a Hamas Palestinian parliament member who has been in imprisoned since June 2006 in connection with Israel Defense Forces Cpl. Gilad Shalit’s kidnapping.

The Bulletin has learned that Ghasan Abu Tir contacted another member of his clan, Jamal Abu Tir, who works in the sensitive visa section of the American consulate. The visa section decides who is able to come to the U.S. A source in the consulate said the terrorist told Jamal Abu Tir he was calling from a location near Jerusalem’s Keren Hayesod Street, and he planned to do something soon before the attack.

Two unanswered questions to the U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem and to the U.S. State Department in Washington were sent inquiring as to whether or not Jamal Abu Tir’s alleged Hamas connections have been examined and whether he holds a security clearance.

Whether Ghasan Abu Tir acted entirely on his own or had help remains to be seen.

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

©The Bulletin 2008

Sderot, Israel – Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama, accompanied by Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, visited the shell-shocked Israeli city yesterday. He met with city Mayor Eli Moyal and family of Mr. and Mrs. Pinchas and Aliza Amar, whose house was destroyed by a Hamas’ Qassam rocket last Dec. Their home still is under construction after being devastated by the attack.

“We’ve been waiting here for over an hour,” said Mrs. Racheli Barr, who lives near the Amars. “It is not every day that the next president of the United States comes to see our situation.”

The Amar family greeted Mr. Obama with a framed picture of Pinchas and Aliza in their house after the rocket struck as well as a bamboo stalk to symbolize their hopes for him.

“The meaning of the bamboo is that if you take care of it and it blossoms, so shall you,” Mrs. Amar said. “But if you do not take care of it, and it withers, you will follow the same path.”

After meeting with the family, Mr. Obama crossed the street to shake hands and briefly speak with several bystanders. Leading up to the visit, the Amars had high hopes for Mr. Obama.

“It shows that Obama knows it is better to be close to the people as a leader, rather than to be like a king who only rules from the throne,” Mr. Amar said.” I don’t feel like we have to tell [Obama] a lot because he understands poverty and struggle [from a personal standpoint].”

This visit has also strengthened the family’s resolve and excitement to return to their home once it is built, despite an eight-month struggle through legal “red tape” to reach a compromise with the government allowing its rebuilding.

“It is a special place,” Mrs. Amar said. “When they called to say they wanted to visit our house, we told them that it was in the middle of construction, but we were told that he wanted to see our home.”

Sen. John McCain had visited the Amars’ home only a few months before, as had German diplomats as well as other foreign representatives.

“There must be a reason why foreign officials visit our house,” Mrs. Amar said.

At a press conference in Sderot, following his visit to the Amar home, Mr. Obama said he endorses Israel’s right to defend itself against rockets.

“If someone were sending rockets into my house where my two daughters sleep at night, I would do anything to stop it,” Mr. Obama said.

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

©The Bulletin 2008

Jerusalem – Last week, Israeli President Shimon Peres condemned those who were “welcoming the return of Samir Kuntar, a murderer who smashed the skull of a 4-year-old girl, Einat, with his bare hands and the butt of his rifle and then shot her father in cold blood and never expressed regret.” Mr. Peres went on to express the wish that “murderers rejoice no more. May the spirit of defenders in a just war remain proud.”

One of the Arab leaders who greeted Mr. Kuntar with adulation upon his release was the Palestinian leader, Mahmoud Abbas. Today, Mr. Abbas held a meeting with President Peres. Mr. Peres’ spokeswoman would not respond as to whether Mr. Peres has raised any objection or protest to Mr. Abbas over his praise for a murderer. However, minutes of the meeting between Mr. Peres and Mr. Abbas that Mr. Peres issued at the end of the day, after their meeting, indicated that Mr. Peres had not mentioned any criticism whatsoever of Mr. Abbas for his praise of Mr. Kuntar.

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

©The Bulletin 2008

Jerusalem – As Sen. Barack Obama prepared to go to sleep in Jerusalem at the elegant King David Hotel, a coalition of organizations held a vigil across the street, spearheaded by the Worldwide Young Israel Movement and the Zionist Organization of America.

Earlier in the evening, these groups convened a crowded news conference, which was devoid of personal attacks, yet firm in its demands of Mr. Obama to do the following:

* Disavow subsequent retractions which qualified his original calls for an undivided Jerusalem to mean only that it would not be separated by barbed wire as in 1948-67

* Declare that security and access to all holy places can only be guaranteed by Israeli sovereignty, as demonstrated during the past 41 years

* Acknowledge that Israeli withdrawals from Southern Lebanon and Gaza in the past have led to destabilization and increased violence and terror as well as that these withdrawals presage a similar deterioration likely to occur in East Jerusalem if Israel were to withdraw and turn the area over to Fatah, which would likely be usurped by Hamas

* Take immediate steps to introduce balance and a pro-Israel perspective by appointing a number of foreign policy advisors more likely to consider an undivided Jerusalem under Israeli sovereignty.

In his recent speech to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) Public Policy Conference, Mr. Obama said, “Let me be clear … Jerusalem will remain the capital of Israel, and it must remain undivided.” (“Undivided” is a code word universally understood to mean that it would remain exclusively under Israeli sovereignty.)

Within days he had backtracked, explaining that what he meant when he said “undivided” was simply that the city shouldn’t again be divided by barbed wire as it was between 1949 and 1967. He suggested that there was room for Palestinian sovereignty in the city as well. In a CNN interview, he said he thought a good “starting point” for negotiations was the Clinton plan advanced at Taba in 2000, which called for a divided city, but actually was subsequently taken off the table.

Mr. Obama’s Middle East advisors did not answer The Bulletin’s request for comment on these questions posed to him by vigil participants outside of his hotel.

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

©The Bulletin 2008

Jerusalem – Terror struck Jerusalem again as a Palestinian backhoe driver went on a rampage just down the street from the King David Hotel, where U.S. presidential contender Barack Obama stayed last night.

The terrorist who stands accused of driving the backhoe was Hassan Abu Tir, a resident of the Umm Tuba neighborhood of eastern Jerusalem, and the possessor of an Israeli identity card. Mr. Hassan is a relative of the Hamas parliament member Muhammad Abu Tir, who is being held in Israeli prison. Muhammad Abu Tir was arrested in June 2006 in conjunction with the Hamas kidnapping of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in Gaza.

The terrorist began his attempt to murder Jews on King David St. near the Yemen Moshe neighborhood. He took the Jerusalem municipal tractor from a construction site, and began plowing into vehicles along the street, hitting at least three cars – one of which he completely overturned – and a bus. One driver was able to escape from his car even though the tractor plowed it into a bus stop. When the terrorist reached the intersection of Keren HaYesod St., a 56-year-old farmer from a Southern Hebron Hills community ran toward the tractor and killed the terrorist. A border guard policeman also shot the terrorist.

In all, 23 people were hurt, including a mother and her 9-month-old son. Magen David Adom paramedics treated the victims at the scene, they evacuated them to Shaare Zedek Medical Center, Bikur Holim, Hadassah Mount Scopus and Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospitals. MDA Blood Services have immediately contacted the hospitals to send the required blood units and components.

Exactly three weeks ago, another Jerusalem Arab killed three people in a similar attack before he was himself killed by a seminary student who is also serving in an elite Israeli army unit.

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

©The Bulletin 2008