Correspondent in Jerusalem
On Wednesday morning, two explosions thundered in Jerusalem, as a result of which one person died and 22 were injured. Shortly after 7:00 a.m., the first bomb exploded near the bus station, then at around 7:35 a.m., a second car destroyed the bus station at Ramoti Junction, a very busy area of the city nearby. Orthodox Jewish neighborhoods. The victim, Aryeh Shechopek, is a 16-year-old Israeli-Canadian who attended Yeshiva, a religious school.
According to the Israeli police, there were nails and explosives in the bombs. High quality “. They would be placed in bags and operated remotely. Jerusalem’s police chief spoke of a coordinated attack that requires ” significant infrastructure“. He called on the population to be very vigilant and explained that the police are looking for the criminals, noting that the goal is to avoid a new attack above all. Police forces were heavily present in the city center shortly after the attack, but business continued as usual. buses and trams were working normally.
The modus operandi of these attacks is reminiscent of some of the attacks in the 1990s and 2000s. Israel’s internal security services, the Shin Bet, date the last bombing in Jerusalem to 2016. This event also takes place in a tense context. Less than a week later, three people, including a Palestinian terrorist, were killed in a knife attack in the Ariel settlement. Last Saturday, the city of Hebron was rocked by violent riots between Israeli settlers and Arab residents. Between Tuesday and Wednesday night, a young Palestinian was killed by the Israeli army during clashes in Nablus, while an armed group in Jenin abducted the remains of a young Israeli who died in a car accident. He intends to negotiate against the release of the prisoners.
“We have to make the terrorists pay the price, we have to resume targeted killings. »
Itamar Ben Gvir, leader of the Jewish supremacist Otzma Yehudit party
The army has carried out more than 2,000 attacks in the West Bank since last March, killing more than 125 Palestinians, the worst in seven years, according to the United Nations. Meanwhile, the Palestinian Authority appears to be losing its influence in parts of the West Bank, notably Jenin and Nablus, leading to the emergence of autonomous armed groups.
Extremist coalition
Israeli Minister of Internal Security Omer Bar-Lev went there on Wednesday morning. He was excited about these attacks.”like we haven’t seen in a while“. In the afternoon, Yair Lapid, still in charge as prime minister, was due to hold a meeting at the end of which he was to brief Benjamin Netanyahu, who should take over once a government is formed. Wednesday’s attack is a test for the leader of Likud, who won the 1st legislative elections.eh in November, but faced difficulties in forming a cabinet with members of the extremist coalition that had given him a majority in the Knesset.
This is how Itamar Ben Gvir, the leader of the Jewish dominant party, Otzma Yehudit, who was appointed as the future minister of internal security, came to the scene of the attack. “We must make the terrorists pay the price, we must resume targeted killings, we must impose a curfew on the villages where these terrorists come from (…). It’s time to build power, and fast“, he announced. A relative of Itamar Ben Gvir, deputy Zvika Vogel, who is a reservist in the army, who gave a radio interview a little later, suggested other ways.Do we have planes, rockets, artillery, tanks? Let’s use them.»
Bezalel Smotrich, another extremist party leader and also a likely future key minister in the next government, also went there to denounce “murderous Arab terrorism“. “Now is the time to form a governmentHe began by calling on Binyamin Netanyahu to bring together all the coalition leaders to:restore the safety of Israeli citizens. The future prime minister was satisfied with a harsh message on Twitter, in which he said:pray for those affected by the coordinated attacks in Jerusalem and for the strength of the security forces on the ground. In the afternoon, he visited the wounded being treated at the Shaare Zedek hospital.
There was no claim of responsibility for the attack, but a spokesman for Hamas in Gaza welcomed it. “The Zionist enemy is paying the price for its harassment and crimes against our people and Al-Aqsa.“, he announced.
Source: Le Figaro
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.