East Jerusalem man attacks light rail security guard

An East Jerusalem man attacked a light rail security guard on Thursday morning after being asked to provide his identification papers.

The incident, which took place at a light rail station near Jerusalem’s Old City, began when the security guard asked the man, a resident of the Beit Hanina neighborhood, to show his identification papers, a common practice by security personnel on public transport.

Rather than comply, the man punched the guard, who overpowered his assailant and alerted police.

After the attacker was arrested, police discovered the man was violating house arrest over a separate matter.

The attack came as Jerusalem remained on high alert after a terror attack on a light rail train stop the day before left a border policeman dead and  a dozen other people injured.

East Jerusalem resident Ibrahim al-Akary, 48, drove his van into a group of pedestrians. Akary was shot by police when he emerged from the vehicle and attacked passersby with a metal bar.

Six people remain hospitalized from that attack; one in critical condition, three with serious injuries and two with moderate-to-light injuries.

It was the second such attack on the light rail in the past two weeks.

Last month, Abdelrahman al-Shaludi, from Silwan in East Jerusalem, drove his car at high speed into a crowd of people waiting for a train, taking the lives of three-month-old Chaya Zissel Braun and Karen Yemima Muscara, 22, an Ecuadorian citizen who had come to Israel to convert to Judaism. Seven other people were injured in the attack.

On Wednesday evening, hours after the ramming attack in Jerusalem, a Palestinian vehicle hit three soldiers who were standing by the side of Route 60 near the village of al-Aroub in the West Bank south of Jerusalem. The vehicle was identified as a large white commercial truck, and a van matching the description was later found by IDF troops.

In a graphic video posted online which appeared to show the incident, the three soldiers are clearly visible on the side of the road as traffic passed. The white van approached from the left-hand side and, without slowing, plowed into the soldiers and drove off.