Netanyahu visits wounded border policewoman
PM praises Ravit Mirilashvili’s slain comrade, Hadar Cohen, as a ‘genuine hero,’ says they prevented ‘a much greater disaster’
Lee Gancman is a breaking news editor at The Times of Israel.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited a wounded border policewoman at Jerusalem’s Hadassah Mount Scopus hospital on Wednesday, describing her conduct during an attack in the city a day earlier as “heroic and resourceful.”
The policewoman, Ravit Mirilashvili, was hospitalized with serious injuries along with another officer, Hadar Cohen, after three Palestinians shot and stabbed them outside Damascus Gate in Jerusalem’s Old City on Wednesday afternoon.
Cohen, 19, suffered from multiple wounds to her upper body and died hours later. Mirilashvili left the hospital to attend her funeral on Thursday.
“The officers, together with their commander, prevented a much greater disaster,” Netanyahu told Israeli media following the visit, stressing that he admired the injured officer’s “courage and tenacity.”
He praised Cohen as “a genuine hero.”
The policewomen were part of a three-person squad that spotted three Palestinians behaving in a suspicious manner and asked to see their identification papers. As one attacker withdrew his ID card, the others opened fire and pulled out knives to attack the officers. The three were shot dead by officers at the scene.
Netanyahu sought to highlight the toughened measures the government was taking in the wake of the attack, saying: “Qabatiya” — the West Bank town from which the attackers set out — “is cordoned off. The IDF and Shin Bet are carrying out widespread arrests. We have revoked many permits to work in Israel.”
“The attorney general informed me yesterday that he has slated several more terrorists’ homes to be sealed and demolished. This is only part of our efforts to fight this terrorism and we will defeat it. It will take time, it is a protracted struggle.”
