Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

Israel To Expand Settlement In Response To Deadly Stabbing

(JTA) — Israel said it will build hundreds of new homes in a settlement where a Palestinian killed an Israeli and wounded two others in a knife attack Thursday.

Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman took to Twitter Friday to announce 400 new housing units in the Adam settlement north of Jerusalem.

“The best answer to terrorism is the expansion of settlements,” Lieberman tweeted.

The assailant, later identified as Mohammed Dar Youssef, 17, from the village of Kobar, mounted the security fence surrounding Adam Thursday evening and stabbed two men before being shot to death by a third, who also suffered stab wounds.

The army named the man who died as Yotam Ovadia, 31; Israeli media reported he had two young children. One 58-year-old victim is seriously wounded but stable. The third victim was lightly wounded.

The army said Friday it had raided Kobar, questioned a number of the assailant’s family members and suspended their work permits.

Jason Greenblatt, President Donald Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, called on Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to condemn the attack.

“Yet another barbaric attack tonight. When will President Abbas and Palestinian leaders condemn the violence?” he wrote on Twitter.

There was no response from Abbas’s government.

Alyssa Fisher is a news writer at the Forward. Email her at [email protected], or follow her on Twitter at @alyssalfisher

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.