Israeli security personnel were called to an Arab-Israeli city overnight on Thursday but the call was part of an ambush that resulted in a terrorist attack. The Border Patrol officer who neutralized the terrorist had a family history that seemed to set his destiny to kill terrorists.
Overnight on Thursday, a terrorist ran over and shot two Israeli police officers in the Arab town of Kafr Qassem. According to media reports, the police officers were lured into an ambush when a call into the police station reported a domestic violence incident in the Arab-majority city.
Three Border Patrol troops and one policeman were sent to the scene where the terrorist opened fire at them but his gun jammed. He fled into a nearby building and threw Molotov cocktails in their direction. He then exited and used his car to ram the security officers. All but one of the security personnel were struck by the car. Security video showed that after ramming the policemen, the terrorist reversed his vehicle in order to drive into them again.
A search in the building where the attacker came from found firebombs, ammunition and a Carlo (i.e., an improvised submachine gun that is a popular weapon among Israeli Arab and Palestinian gangs). A knife was also found in the terrorist’s vehicle.
JNS reported that two officers suffered light injuries and were evacuated to Beilinson Hospital for treatment.
The Arab terrorist, a resident of Kafr Qassem, who drove the vehicle that carried out the attack was shot and killed. An investigation concluded the attack was likely planned a few days in advance.
The terrorist’s family strongly denied the incident was an attack and accused police of “murdering our son in cold blood.”
“Our son did not plan any attack,” they said. “It’s a fallacious claim by police to hide its failures in facing crime in Arab society,” a statement from the family said.
The body of the terrorist was turned over to the family on the condition that the funeral would be limited to 50 people. Funerals of terrorists have become focal points of nationalist incitement. Mayor Adel Badir, the mayor of the Israeli city, Kafr Qassem, attended the burial ceremony, during which participants chanted “Allahu Akbar” (Allah is greatest), according to videos posted on social media.
According to VIN news, an online news site that caters to the Orthodox Jewish and Hasidic communities in the United States, reported that the name of the commanding officer of the Border Police unit who neutralized the terrorist was Shai Toledano. In December 1992, Shai’s father, Nissim Toledano, a police sergeant, was kidnapped by a Hamas terror cell which demanded the release of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, a Hamas leader, in return for Toledano. The terrorists were later caught and sentenced to life imprisonment but released in the 2011 Shalit deal.
