Israeli security forces thwarted what could have been a major terror attack in an area known for bustling restaurants in Tel Aviv on Saturday, with one of the officers involved killed in a shooting with the terrorist. One day later, the IDF neutralized three terrorists en route from Jenin to carry out another attack.
On Saturday, two municipal security officers questioned a suspicious man from the Palestinian town of Jenin, when the terrorist opened fire on the officers at point blank range. According to a post by the Israeli Police on the social media site X—formerly known as Twitter—one officer was seriously injured while the second “responded with determination and managed to neutralize the terrorist.” The wounded officer, Chen Amir—a father of three—later died of his wounds.
Israeli Ambassador to the United States Michael Herzog posted to his X account their “deep condolences” to Amir’s family and said the “bravery of Amir and his colleagues prevented mass civilian casualties.” The Israel Police Hebrew page on X, as translated by Google, added that Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai said of the officers’ actions, “There is no doubt that your quick and professional action saved lives. A few meters away from us, you can see the crowded cafes and understand the magnitude of the disaster that was avoided, thanks to your vigilance.”
The Times of Israel, in their report, quoted the other officer in saying the gunman fired once or twice at him as well, before he was able to chase down and shoot the terrorist. The Times of Israel article cited the Shin Bet as stating the gunman was a member of the Islamic Jihad terror group. Palestinian terrorists have engaged in a number of terror attacks against Israeli civilians in 2023, including multiple attacks in Tel Aviv. Saturday’s incident added another Israeli to the year’s death toll, but Amir’s actions helped prevent even more from being killed.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu posted to his X account, in a post translated from Hebrew by Google, that Amir “prevented a major attack with his body and saved many lives.” In a related press release published by Israel, Netanyahu said, “I commend the personnel of the Tel Aviv-Yafo Municipality security patrol for their alertness and for engaging, thereby thwarting a much more serious attack. Our security forces will settle accounts with everyone who seeks to attack us.”
One day later, Israeli soldiers were doing just that. In a joint operation with other Israeli security groups, three members of a terrorist cell exiting Jenin were neutralized “on their way to carry out an attack,” according to an IDF posting on X. The post said an M-16 rifle was found in the terrorist operatives’ vehicle. Said the IDF in the post, “By neutralizing the members of the cell, the forces thwarted an immediate threat to the safety of Israeli civilians.”
Israel’s ongoing vigilance against terror prevented multiple attacks on Saturday, but the incidents also highlighted the ongoing threat. In his post on Saturday’s shooting attack, Ambassador Herzog said, “This heinous terror attack, which originated from Jenin, is yet another expression of the poison injected and effort exerted by Palestinian terrorist organizations and Iran to fuel a terror campaign against Israeli civilians. Terror is terror and nothing can justify it. Israel will not cave and is determined to keep on fighting terror and protecting Israeli lives.”
(By Joshua Spurlock, www.themideastupdate.com, August 6, 2023)