Yes, after yesterday's terror attack at Kikar Tzahal, everyone was asking, "who is connected to who?"
Well, of course the terrorist came from the same neighborhood as the previous Jerusalem terrorists: Jabel Mukhaber.
And the IDF officer that killed him?
Hold on to your chairs.
Lt. Elad Amar who killed the terrorist is a graduate of the Pirchei Aaron Yeshiva High School in Haifa, and his former commander in the Paratrooper unit where he served before moving over to artillery was none other than... David Shapira - the hero of Mercaz Harav. Source
For those not familiar with the details behind the last four major terror attacks in Jerusalem, the incredible nature of the coincidence that Joe is describing might not be entirely obvious. In each one of these four incidents, the bloodshed was ended by the brave action of a quick-thinking person who happened to be present at the scene of the attack. And in each case, the hero was a dati leumi (religious Zionist) person. That itself is a statistical improbabilty. But the full proportions the improbabilities here only start to become clear once one realizes the direct, single degree-of-separation connections beween each of these four people. Here is a brief connect-the-dots guide:
David Shapira was a passer-by who, along with Yitzhak Dadon, shot the terrorist in the Merkaz HaRav massacre in Jerusalem on the night of March 6.
Moshe Plesser, the passer-by who shot the first bulldozer terrorist in Jerusalem on July 2, is David Shapira's brother-in-law.
Yakki Asa-el, the passer-by who shot the second bulldozer terrorist in Jerusalem on July 22, was Moshe Plesser's yeshiva high school teacher.
And today, we find out that Elad Amar, who shot the terrorist in the attack last night, served in the Paratrooper unit commanded by David Shapira.
I'm not going to attempt to present an explanation of this incredible triple confluence. I will simply note the obvious: That the likelihood of it being random has got to be infintessimally miniscule.
Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael טובה הארץ מאד מאד
1. Terror attack in Yeshiva Merkaz Harav -- who killed the terrorist? IDF officer on leave, David Shapira.
2. Bulldozer attack in Jaffa St, Jerusalem -- who killed the terrorist? IDF soldier on leave, "M" (he has requested that his name not be published). M is also the brother in law of David Shapira (listed above). Coincidence? Keep reading!
3. 21 days after the first bulldozer attack, there is a SECOND bulldozer attack in Jerusalem near the King David hotel. Who shoots the terrorist first? Civilian Grandfather Yakki Asa-el (also an IDF soldier in the reserves)
My good blogger friend, DoubleTapper just finished a conversation with the first bulldozer attack hero, "M" who was assigned to protect out settlement the past 2 weeks.
Guess who "M"s teacher was in high school?
Today's Hero, Yakki Asa-el.
What do they all have in common?
Law Abiding Citizens, licensed to carry weapons
Active IDF soldiers or in the IDF reserves
Nationalistic, Religiously-observant Jews
Determination - belief in our purpose of living in Eretz Yisrael.
The media and others may try to defame nationalistic, religious Jews all they want.
Yet at the end of the day, these Jews have been the ones to end the terror attacks without hesitation.
Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael טובה הארץ מאד מאד
A tractor (driven by an Israeli Arab, resident of Tzur-Bacher, Jerusalem) went on a killing spree, smashing into cars and passer-byers. The rampage started on Sarei Yisrael street and making a left onto Yaffo st., where it also rammed 2 buses.
Updated Video: See the blue shirted 19 year old soldier, on leave from the army kill the terrorist with 3 shots. (starts at 2:35...)
About 30 wounded; 2 very seriously, 6 moderate, and about 30 less seriously.
Reports now of 5 3 dead, and about 50 wounded. The numbers keep wavering now...down to 3? Perhaps they discounted the terrorist as one of the dead.
See BBC video of the tractor smashing cars, and the the soldier taking out the terrorist.
The YouTube copy above is not bad.
Update: A 19 year old soldier, Moshe Plesser, jumped onto the tractor. Grabbing a pistol from a shell shocked YASAM policeman civilian security guard who was struggling to subdue the terrorist, Plesser shot the terrorist to death. Plesser is the nephew brother-in-law of David Shapira -- the soldier who killed the terrorist in the Merkaz Harav attack before Purim a few months ago.
Now that's a family!
(You can read Plesser's first-hand description of what happened here.)
The aftermath.
Its now a few hours later since the attack, and I wanted to compose my thoughts a bit.
At 11:55 the tractor started its journey of death, smashing into cars left and right. Around 1 minute later, I got a call from a neighbor who was listening to his Hatzala radio's Jerusalem frequency and he heard alot of intense chatter about "something going on."
He called me and told me get going...and I grabbed a co-worker (also a medic), and we ran to my car. Putting on the red strobe light, we flew out of our parking lot listening for directions where to go -- and then the picture became crystal clear.
Our Magen David Adom beepers went off simultaneously, announcing "ARAN, ARAN, ARAN" -- mass casulty attack in Jerusalem, near Yaffo street and Sarei Yisrael street. Flying low, we honked our way through traffic (most cars even go out of the way for us) as the Hatzala radio mentioned 2, maybe 3 different attack locations (many cars had been smashed, each with victims in it), plus buses...
I parked illegally on the sidewalk near the Israel Broadcasting Agency in Romema, putting my MDA sign on my car's dashboard, threw on my emergency vest, grabbed my gear and ran.
I waved to the security guard of the IBA, so he knew the car was "friendly" and he wouldn't try to tow it...ticket it...or have it blown up by police sappers.
Running down the street, towards the sires, the fire trucks, and the crowd, we passed smashed cars. Curious onlookers ran towards the scene, some were quietly on the sides of the street, others running away in panic -- and police and medical teams converged on Yaffo street.
Ducking under the crime scene tape, we ran towards the ambulances, and started helping treat the wounded and load them onto ambulances.
One woman cried and moaned, as we placed her into an ambulance, as someone (no idea if it was a relative, friend, or just someone helping out) held the injured woman's crying toddler. The ambulance sped off, and we looked for more people to help.
A policeman with a bomb sniffing dog scoured the area -- another policeman complete in bomb disposal body armor gingerly picked through bags of construction sand near one of the smashed cars, as he looked for a bomb.
35 minutes later, from the time we left, we returned back to the office.
Peeling off my gloves, my hands still shook a bit.
10 unanswered calls on my cellphone.
Time to get back to work.
Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael טובה הארץ מאד מאד
