An Arab assailant plowed a vehicle into a crowd of Israeli soldiers in Jerusalem before being shot dead.
Two soldiers were moderately injured and more than a dozen others suffered slight injuries during Monday night’s attack. The driver was killed by a soldier at the scene.
The soldiers, who were on a tour of the Old City, were struck at a crowded intersection near the Jaffa Gate by an Arab from eastern Jerusalem driving a black BMW, according to reports.
Police said Tuesday that Kasem Mugrabi,19, may have staged the attack out of disappointment over a rejected marriage proposal.
Mugrabi’s family have said that the attacker was murdered in cold blood and are demanding an investigation.
The attack marked the third time in recent months that an Arab from eastern Jerusalem has used a vehicle to perpetrate an attack in Jerusalem. In the other two cases, one of which resulted in the deaths of Israeli civilians, the assailants used construction vehicles.
Also on Tuesday, Defense Minister Ehud Barak called on the government to find ways to be able to legally and quickly raze the homes of terrorists so that it serves as a deterrent to future potential terrorists. It often takes several months and a great deal of legal wrangling for the military to get permission to destroy a terrorists’ home.
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