Video shows ex-MK’s son stabbed as he aids soldier in attack

A video released Saturday shows the terror attack in which Yitzhak Strock, son of former Jewish Home MK Orit Strock, was stabbed on Wednesday in the divided West Bank city of Hebron, and the assailant killed.

The video shows the stabber, Abdel Rahman Masawda, 21, approaching and then stabbing a soldier who had beckoned him to come closer for an inspection. The soldier was moderately wounded.

Strock, who was nearby, tried to help the soldier and was also stabbed and lightly wounded. Another security official who arrived at the scene shot and killed Masawda.

According to Hebrew-language paper Ma’ariv, the attacker was the cousin of Ihab Masawda, who earlier in the week carried out a stabbing attack near the Tomb of the Patriarchs in the city. Ihab was also shot and killed at the scene of his attack.

Strock said the fact that her son was only lightly hurt was a “great miracle” that occurred during the Jewish festival of Hanukkah. “He is lightly wounded, he has a cut on his leg, and he has a fractured hand. Under these circumstances we can only thank God, but at the same time – this incident could have been predicted.”

Strock criticized the military’s handling of the security situation in Hebron.

“Only a day and a half ago I spoke to the division commander. I sat with him and told him that these stairs must be closed down because this is where the next attack will take place. I told him: ‘It is so clearly a weak point, why do we need to keep it open? Why is it always that the quality of life of the Arabs is more important than our own sheer life?’”

“Life is more important than the quality of life,” she added. “So he told me: ‘There’s a soldier there.’ So I said ‘Okay, they’ll stab the soldier and then the civilians near him.’ It was an attack we predicted ahead of time.”