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Israeli Police Officer Killed in Jerusalem Attack

Palestinian man drove car into train platform; attacked crowd with iron bar

by
Stephanie Butnick
November 05, 2014
Police at the scene of a suspected terrorist attack on November 5, 2014 in Jerusalem, Israel. (Ilia Yefimovich/Getty Images)
Police at the scene of a suspected terrorist attack on November 5, 2014 in Jerusalem, Israel. (Ilia Yefimovich/Getty Images)

An Israeli border police officer was killed and at least 13 people were injured, one critically when a Palestinian man drove his car into a crowded train platform Wednesday. The AP reports that the man then exited the car and attacked people with an iron bar before being shot and killed by police.

Police said the motorist slammed his car — a white minivan — into the train platform in east Jerusalem first, backed out and proceeded to drive away, hitting several cars along the way. He then got out of the car and attacked a group of civilians and police officers on the side of the road with a metal bar before he was shot and killed. Security camera footage appeared to show him darting about a crowded intersection before he was shot.

Hamas has claimed responsibility for the attack, and said that the attacker, Ibrahim al-Akri, 38, who had recently been released from an Israeli prison, was a member of the militant group.

Tensions have been high in Jerusalem following several violent incidents in recent weeks. On Oct. 22, eight people were injured and a baby killed when a driver plowed into a light rail station in a suspected terror attack. The suspect was shot and killed by police. Days later, Israeli police killed a Palestinian man suspected in the shooting of Yehuda Glick, a prominent advocate of opening the Temple Mount to Jews.

Update, 9:40 a.m.: The border police officer killed in the attack has been identified as Jidan Assad, 38, from the Druze village of Beit Jaan.

Stephanie Butnick is chief strategy officer of Tablet Magazine, co-founder of Tablet Studios, and a host of the Unorthodox podcast.