Jerusalem’s mayor neutralizes Palestinian stabber

A Palestinian man stabbed an Israeli in the abdomen near City Hall in Jerusalem Sunday evening, and was then neutralized by the mayor of Jerusalem and one of his bodyguards who happened to be in the area.

The victim, an ultra-Orthodox man in his 20s named Avraham Goldstein, was moderately wounded in the attack in Tzahal Square.

The assailant was an 18-year-old Palestinian who was residing illegally in Israel.

Mayor Nir Barkat and his security team apprehended the attacker. Video footage showed Barkat wrestling him to the ground, ensuring that he posed no further threat, and then rushing to take care of the victim. The assailant was taken to police for questioning.

Barkat told Channel 2 he was on the way to the municipality headquarters for a meeting when he saw the attack unfold.

He and his security guard confronted the attacker. They then pinned him down. The aftermath of the attack was seen in a video circulated Sunday evening.

Asked whether he had considered that the attacker might injure him, and score a certain propaganda victory, Barkat said he hadn’t given the notion a thought and that he had acted “instinctively.” It was clear that the assailant was “not going to attack me,” Barkat said. If he had kept on trying to stab people, “he would have been killed.”

Goldstein fought off the attacker with his phylacteries.

“I felt a strong blow to my stomach,” he told Ynet. “I yelled to everyone ‘stabbing’ so that they would run away, and then he came to stab me again and I hit him with my phylacteries.”

Paramedic Arie Yaffe treats a stabbing victim in Safra Square, February 22, 2015 (photo credit: Courtesy/Tazpit News Agency)

United Hatzalah medic Arie Jaffe responded to the stabbing call, and arrived on his ambucycle. “The victim was fully conscious and stable,” Jaffe told the Times of Israel. Barkat helped the medics cover the victim and lift him into the ambulance.

“He thanked us,” said Jaffe.

The victim was transferred to Hadassah-Ein Kerem Medical Center for treatment.