Passover Eve Massacre in Jerusalem Averted

Latest Developments

Hours before Passover began, Israel averted a mass-casualty attack by two Palestinians in Jerusalem on April 22. The two terrorists rammed a car into groups of people in Romema, a religious Jewish neighborhood in the capital. The initial police report said the same car hit pedestrians on two separate streets. The attack lightly injured three people.

The Palestinian terrorists emerged from the vehicle and tried to mow down people fleeing the scene with a makeshift submachine gun. The firearm jammed, averting more injuries, and the two terrorists fled on foot. CCTV security systems captured the incident, enabling Israeli police to capture the assailants within hours. The alleged attackers have been identified as 17-year-old Palestinians from the West Bank city of Hebron. They have been detained for questioning.

Expert Analysis

“Two factors combined to prevent another disaster over a Jewish holiday in an Israel still reeling from the Simchat Torah massacre of October 7: Palestinian ineptitude and the swift response of the Israeli security forces. But no one should be in doubt as to the enduring viciousness of Palestinian terrorists to murder Jews selected at random.” — Mark Dubowitz, FDD CEO

“The scars on Israeli society from the Netanya Passover massacre in 2002 remain, and holidays are always times of heightened tensions in the Holy Land. Israel must therefore be extra vigilant in the middle of a war that Hamas provoked.” — David May, FDD Research Manager and Senior Research Analyst

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