Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

Yom Kippur Attacker Shot Dead In Jerusalem’s Old City

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israel Police shot and killed a Palestinian man as he attempted to stab a Jewish man on his way to the Western Wall after the start of Yom Kippur.

The would-be stabber was charging at the Jewish victim brandishing a screwdriver about an hour after the start of the holiest day on the Jewish calendar.

He then charged at police officers stationed on the street near the Damascus Gate, one of the main entrances to the Old City of Jerusalem, who shot him.

The assailant was identified as a 26-year-old man from Qalandiya, who was illegally in Israel despite a closure on the West Bank for the holy day.

“Policemen stationed on the route used by worshippers spotted the attacker running toward a Jew, attempted to harm him and bypassers tripped him up,” police said in a statement. “Afterward, he continued to run at police officers while brandishing a sharp object in his hand at them to stab the officers. The police acted immediately and with determination and neutralized the attacker.”

 

On the eve of Jewish fast Yom kipper police units responded to stabbing attack by Palestinian terrorist. A rapid response prevented injuries pic.twitter.com/HpJb05cqRp

— Micky Rosenfeld (@MickyRosenfeld) September 19, 2018

A message from our Publisher & CEO 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.