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Palestinian Authority/Gaza, December 8, 2021

Palestinian terrorist stabs Jewish mother in east Jerusalem

Original source

The Jerusalem Post

A Jewish woman was stabbed while walking with her children in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of east Jerusalem on Wednesday morning, the latest in a recent wave of terrorist attacks.

The suspect was arrested later Wednesday morning at a school in the east Jerusalem neighborhood, Israel Police announced.

Police suspect that the attacker was helped by the school, said Shimon Marziano, deputy police chief, according to KAN.

“We would have expected more cooperation [from the school],” said Marziano. “This was an abnormal event.”

A number of additional women at the school were arrested as well, according to police.

The suspect is a teenager whose family is one of those threatened with eviction from their homes in Sheikh Jarrah, and is active in the fight against the evictions, according to the Palestinian Asra Media Office.

Both Jewish right-wing activists and Arab residents demonstrated in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood on Wednesday evening, with minor clashes reported during the demonstrations. The right-wing protesters chanted "death to terrorists" and waved Israeli flags. Four Arabs were lightly injured by pepper spray during the protest, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent.

Public Security Minister Omer Bar Lev responded to the attack on Wednesday morning, calling it a “serious incident” and thanking the police for their quick response and arrest of the suspected terrorist.

Hamas responded to the attack saying that “the heroic operations in the West Bank and Jerusalem, the last of which was at dawn today, with the stabbing of a settler in Sheikh Jarrah, prove the greatness of our rebellious people and that their resistance is unbreakable,” according to Palestinian media.

“Our people in the West Bank and Jerusalem are in an open battle with the occupation, and will go out to the invaders and herds of settlers from everywhere and by various means until they are defeated from our land,” added the Hamas statement.

The Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist group also congratulated the stabbing attack on Wednesday, saying it came as a response to the “crimes” of Israel against Palestinians, pointing to planned evictions of Palestinian families in Sheik Jarrah.

The woman wounded in the stabbing attack, whom Israeli media identified as Moriah Cohen, was treated at the scene before being taken to Hadassah-University Medical Center. She was conscious and in good condition and was released within a matter of hours, a Hadassah representative said Wednesday.

Cohen was reportedly on her way to drop her children off at school and was pushing a stroller, Maariv reported.

Cohen’s husband said that the alleged assailant is the family’s neighbor and lives in a house across from them, Israeli media reported.

“My wife was with all of our children,” said her husband. “My son shouted ‘Mom, you have a knife in your back,’ and, thank God, the terrorist was probably frightened and ran away.

“My five children, who are all small, were there. The oldest is five-and-a-half, three of them are in a stroller, if she kept going I don’t want to imagine how it might have ended.”

Cohen herself told N12 that she saw the girl who stabbed her.

“She looked at me; I was sure she was waiting for some of her schoolmates,” said Cohen. “I’m not one of those people who suspects other people. [We] are neighbors; nothing like this should happen. It is frustrating.”

The stabbing comes after five terrorist attacks in the past two-and-a-half weeks, all carried out by lone wolves.

The first attack in this apparent wave took place on November 17, when 16-year-old Amr Abu Assab stabbed two Border Police officers before being shot dead by an armed civilian who had been passing by.

Several days later, Hamas member Fadi Abu Shkhaydam carried out a deadly shooting attack in Jerusalem’s Old City, killing 26-year-old Eli Kay and wounding several others. That attacker was shot dead by Border Police officers.

That same day, a 67-year-old man was moderately wounded after being stabbed repeatedly in the back by an 18-year-old Palestinian from the Jenin area in the West Bank.

Another stabbing attack took place on December 4 near Jerusalem’s Damascus Gate. An Israeli civilian was moderately wounded, and the attacker was killed.

On December 6, a vehicular ramming attack was carried out by a 16-year-old Palestinian teenager who accelerated into the Te’enim crossing near the West Bank city of Tulkarm with a stolen car. Guards at the crossing opened fire at the driver, fatally wounding him.