Jordanian man attacks Israeli car, assaults driver near Kinneret

Woman suffers minor injuries, assailant shot in leg by security; unclear how suspect crossed border, or what his motives were

By ToI Staff 8 July 2016, 11:05 am

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Rotem Aharoni (Courtesy: Poriya Hospital)

An Israeli woman was injured while driving on Route 90 when her car was struck by a stone and she was allegedly attacked by a Jordanian citizen Friday morning.

Rotem Aharoni, 23, was driving on the north-south highway just south of the Sea of Galilee when her vehicle was pelted and she crashed into a guardrail.

After she came to a halt, a man leaped from the bushes and assaulted her, apparently trying to remove her from the vehicle, police said.

A passerby’s appearance on the scene prompted the suspect to flee the scene. After a nearly two-hour manhunt, a member of a nearby security detail fired on the suspect and struck him in the leg. Police then apprehended the man, who was identified as a Jordanian citizen in his mid-20s.

Aharoni suffered minor injuries and the suspect suffered moderate to serious injuries, Magen David Adom said. Both were taken to Poriya Hospital, near Tiberias, for treatment.

Israeli authorities were investigating how the assailant crossed the border into Israel. Police later said that a preliminary investigation found that the Jordanian man was mentally unstable and threw rocks at the car in a failed attempt to make it stop and steal it.