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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan |
| Hamas: Jerusalem stabbing is natural response to Israeli aggression |
| 2008-10-24 |
| Following the stabbing of an elderly Israeli and a policeman by a Palestinian in Jerusalem on Thursday, Hamas said such attacks were a "natural response" to Israel's continued aggression. Abraham Ozeri, an 86-year-old Jerusalem resident, died of his wounds shortly after the terror attack. The policeman, 30, was taken for treatment at the Hadassah Hospital in Ein Kerem, where his condition was classified as serious. The attacker, 20-year-old Mohammed al-Badan, was shot and disarmed during the attack. The Palestinian militant group Hamas added that the terror attack came as a direct response to Israeli moves to make Jerusalem more Jewish. Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said two police officers on patrol in Gilo had stopped an Arab for questioning on the street when he pulled out a knife and stabbed one of them. "The [wounded] policeman fired at the terrorist, but he continued to attack and stabbed a 86-year-old passerby, before he was apprehended," Rosenfeld said. A civilian, Yoav Mizrahi, and a municipal inspector, Yehoshua Ben Nun, who were in the area gave chase, seizing the Palestinian some two hundred meters away from the site of the stabbing. Mizrahi said: "I succeeded in grabbing hold of his back, and with the municipal inspector who was in the area, we held him and called on civilians to phone the police and Magen David Adom [emergency services]. I put my leg on him and pointed a gun at him until the police arrived." There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the stabbing. Magen David Adom, revising its information that the Palestinian was killed, said he sustained moderate wounds. IDF raids assailant's village The Israel Defense Forces later searched the West Bank home of the attacker in the village of Tekoa, near Bethlehem. Witnesses said two of al-Badan's friends were taken away in military jeeps. Witnesses said about 100 local teenagers hurled rocks at the soldiers, who responded with tear gas and rubber bullets. Palestinian medics said three Palestinians were lightly injured. The army said a soldier was also lightly wounded in the clash, but it gave no further details of the operation. Security establishment sources said the police officers' alertness had likely foiled an attack on one of the educational institutions in the area. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #5 Thanks, tu, I did not find it with my brief search. So this man fought for his country in three wars, and did not retire until age 76. About what I expected. These are the kind of men we need more of in our current generations (and I say that before noting the guy was still running distance races!) |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2008-10-24 18:23 |
| #4 Friends and family of Avraham Ozeri voiced sorrow and anger at the killing of the 86-year-old they described as "salt of the earth" in Thursday's stabbing attack in Jerusalem. "My father was a man whom everyone loved and who never wronged a single person. To stab a man such as this, at this age, is an animal-like act," said Ozeri's son, Amos. He added that his father's motto was "love of the land." Ozeri was born in the capital's Bukharan Quarter to parents who had immigrated from Yemen. He was educated in a cheder orthodox primary school and later in a talmud Torah, another religious institution. From the age of 15 he held various temporary jobs. In 1942, he enlisted in the British Mandate police force, and served as a guard north of the Dead Sea. At one point, he was arrested on suspicion of involvement in the Jewish underground, although he was released after a short period of time. Ozeri fought in the 1948 War of Independence in the Yemin Moshe and Abu Tor areas of Jerusalem. He volunteered in the 1956 Sinai Campaign and 1967 Six-Day war, working on Israel Defense Forces fortifications. Ozeri then worked for 35 years as a customs official, retiring in 1998. A year later, his wife Rivka passed away. Nir Yogev, Ozeri's grandson related that his grandfather had planned to participate in a 10-kilometer run in Tel Aviv on Saturday. "Grandpa was an exemplary sportsman and was involved in long-distance running for 40 years. Over the years, there wasn't a marathon that grandpa didn't take part in. His closet was full of trophies and awards. Up until a few years ago he would run with me and [his other] grandchildren every Shabbat from the neighborhood of Gilo to the neighborhood of Ramot, and back," said Yogev. |
| Posted by: tu3031 2008-10-24 10:23 |
| #3 Mr. Ozeri was of an age to have seen, fought, and survived the Holocaust and all of Israel's wars. I wonder if there is a story to his life to go with this one of his death. |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2008-10-24 07:44 |
| #2 Abraham Ozeri, an 86-year-old Jerusalem resident, died of his wounds... Yeah, but I'm sure Mo and his greaseball friends will always tell the tale as if Abe was an Israeli commando with an M-16 in both hands... |
| Posted by: tu3031 2008-10-24 03:05 |
| #1 Murder is just a normal way for our boys to work off all that pent up sexual energy... |
| Posted by: 3dc 2008-10-24 00:19 |