At hospital, Israel’s US envoy says son’s doctors stabilized his condition, ‘there is hope,’ but his life is still in danger after car-ramming attack

Israel’s Ambassador to the US Yechiel Leiter speaks to the press at Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem, where his son, Neria, is hospitalized in serious condition after a car-ramming attack at a checkpoint in the central West Bank yesterday.

Leiter says he is “full of hope that he will come out of it this time and return to us safe and sound.”

Although the doctors managed to stabilize Neria’s condition overnight, and “there is hope,” Leiter tells reporters, “his life is still in danger.”

“This experience is different from the night I received a knock at the door,” he says, referring to his elder son, Maj. (res.) Moshe Yedidya Leiter, who was killed in battle alongside three other reservists in northern Gaza in November 2023.

Moshe “died immediately, and there was no possibility to bring him to hospital and allow Israeli doctors to save his life. And there wasn’t a possibility for us to gather around his bed, say prayers, and mobilize the people of Israel to pray for his recovery,” he says.

Leiter traveled to Israel after receiving the news that his son was wounded in the attack.

According to the hospital, Leiter’s son’s condition is stable after doctors’ efforts overnight, but his life is still at risk.

In the attack yesterday, the Palestinian assailant accelerated toward a police cruiser stationed at the “Bell” checkpoint — where Routes 4436 and 4437 from Beit Ur and Ramallah hit the major Jerusalem-Tel Aviv highway Route 443 — running over Neria Leiter, who was operating alongside a cop, the military and police said.