A security guard was slightly injured on Tuesday morning at the US Embassy in Tel Aviv when he was attacked by a man wielding an ax.
According to police, the guard fired warning shots and was injured in his leg. The assailant is reportedly a 41-year-old Jewish man from Bat Yam with a criminal record. He was apprehended by police. Police spokeswoman Orit Friedman said that police do not suspect the attack was politically motivated.
Television footage from the scene showed two ambulances leaving the heavily guarded embassy, which is in the heart of Tel Aviv near the city’s beach.
Reuters quoted an eyewitness, David Cohen as saying that he saw the suspect exit a car that stopped next to the embassy, “carrying a red bag and a pitchfork…he began to run toward the security guards. They saw him, took their guns out and told him to get down on the ground,” Cohen said.
When the man did not stop running, guards fired their guns into the air and again ordered the man to lie down. “They jumped on him and took his bag away,” said Cohen.
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The attack came just after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced that she will arrive in Israel on Tuesday evening to work toward bringing an end to the violence in Gaza.
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