In Separate Incidents, Terrorists Target Two Victims in Heart of Israel

Reflecting continuing Israeli-Palestinian tensions, terrorists wounded two Israelis in two separate stabbing attacks carried out within Israel’s borders on Sunday.

In the first incident, Elad Sabban, an Israeli soldier on vacation, was stabbed in the back as he was walking to a bus stop at a highway intersection on the outskirts of Petach Tikva.

Sabban was rushed by ambulance, with the knife still sticking out of his back, to the nearby Beilinson Hospital, where he was operated on and reported to be out of danger.

A passerby said she was walking to the same bus stop when she heard a shout behind her and turned to see an Arab attacking the soldier.

Soldiers at a nearby hitchhiking station rushed to aid the injured man. They overpowered the assailant, holding him down until police and other soldiers came to arrest him.

It was not immediately clear whether the assailant had any ties to organized groups opposed to the Israeli-Palestinian peace initiative.

In the second incident — which took place at about the same time as the first, but without any apparent connection — Shimon Strau, a fruit and vegetable dealer from Netanya, was stabbed by two Arab farmers when he went to the Arab village of Ibtan near Netanya.

Strau, who had gone to the Israeli Arab farming village to buy vegetables, was invited by two farmers to come with them to visit their fields. As he was inspecting their produce, he was stabbed twice in the chest by the two men, who ran away.

Strau managed to summon help, and was taken to the Hillel Yaffee Hospital, where he was reported to be out of danger after receiving medical treatment.