A ‘beloved’ cancer survivor, an expectant mother, and a 22-year-old on a birthright trip to Israel were among the American victims of a terrorist assault in Jerusalem on Saturday evening.
In the shooting that occurred at David’s Tomb on Mount Zion, just outside the Old City walls, eight persons were injured. Five victims are American citizens. Amir Sidawi, a native of East Jerusalem, opened fire at two sites approximately 6:30 p.m. Eastern time. First, he shot onto a bus sitting in a parking lot, and then, soon afterwards, he fired upon a throng around the bus.
Menachem Palace, 22, of Crown Heights, who was injured in the shooting, talked publicly to the media after the event.
In the interview, Palace said that he was in Israel as part of a birthright trip to the Middle East. Birthright vacations are free travels to Israel provided to Jewish young people from all around the globe. They are funded through philanthropic contributions.
Palace said in an interview with the Israeli news source COLlive that he landed in Israel on Friday evening and had no plans to cut short his vacation due to the event.
He informed the interviewer, “The tour concludes on Thursday, and I want to remain.” This is our country, the safest place on earth. Palace said, “I glanced to my right, near to the window I was sitting next to, and saw that it had been totally shattered. I immediately crouched and saw blood on my shoulder.
From all the excitement, I was unaware that a bullet had entered my shoulder, said Palace.
During a speech on Sunday, New York Senator Chuck Schumer named one of the victims as Williamsburg resident Shia Hersch Glick.
Senator Schumer added that Glick was shot in the neck while covering his wife and children, as reported by the New York Post. He is classified in serious condition and is on a respirator, but it is anticipated that he will live.
The Democratic legislator referred to Glick as a cancer survivor universally adored by the community. He is a member of the ultra-orthodox Jewish Satmar Hasidic movement.
His kid got shot in the arm and was also injured. Rabbi David Niederman, the executive director of United Jewish Organizations, informed the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that Glick’s wife and daughter were also injured.
Niederman said that the family was in the Holy Land for the wedding of Glick’s son. As they waited for a cab, they were hit.
A buddy of Glick said to the New York Daily News, ‘We need him. He doesn’t deserve to die. He has never harmed a fly.
Isaac Weiss, a friend, said that Glick “pounced” on this family as the firing started. Due to her injuries, a pregnant lady who was shot in the abdomen during the incident was forced to give delivery through C-section.
Dr. Alon Schwartz of Shaarei Tzedek Medical Center told i24 News in Israel, “The infant is ventilated and intubated in the neo-natal intensive care unit, and is likewise in critical condition.”
The suspect has been identified as Amir Siddawi, 26, from East Jerusalem. Sunday morning, according to Israeli officials, Sidawi took a taxi to a neighboring police station and turned himself up.
Shalom Harush, who drove Sidawi, said that it was “not a nice feeling” to have the accused terrorist in his vehicle.
The taxi driver said that the attacker’s weapon was left on the floor of the vehicle.
Israeli officials think Sidawi acted alone during the incident. YNET News says that despite this, his sibling has also been detained for three days.
According to the source, Sidawi was convicted of grievous bodily injury in 2015 and sentenced to five years in jail. Siddawi completed anger management treatment while incarcerated.
According to the Guardian, Sidawi was concerned about the impact of his acts on his family.
The article reportedly cited a Hamas spokesman who praised the shooting as a “heroic action” without claiming credit.
In a statement, Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid said, ‘This was a lone attacker, a city resident with a criminal history.’ Those who hurt Israelis have nowhere to hide. Israeli brothers Elazar and Dovi were non-American victims. Both are predicted to live.
Their elder brother, Yair, told the Times of Israel, “Last night, my two brothers were waiting for the bus together.” Elazar assisted a lady in boarding the bus, and my 16-and-a-half-year-old brother Dovi was at the bus stop when the shooting began.
Yair said, ‘Dovi phoned himself and informed [the family] that they had both been struck by a bullet, that he was aware and in good health. It quelled our anxiety.
Daniel Kanievsky, the bus driver, told the BBC: ‘We opened the ramp for a wheelchair user, and then the shooting began. Everyone fell to the ground while shouting. I attempted to flee, but the bus was unable to move with the ramp open.
Following a week of tension between Israel and Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, the assault in Jerusalem occurred.
Last weekend, Israeli warplanes launched an operation against the extremist organization Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip, sparking three days of intense cross-border warfare.
During the conflict, Islamic Jihad launched hundreds of rockets in retaliation for the airstrikes that killed two of its leaders and other militants.
Israel said that the bombing was intended to deter the group’s vows to retaliate over the arrest of one of its leaders in the occupied West Bank.
During the violence, which was brought to a stop by an Egyptian-brokered cease-fire, 49 Palestinians, including 17 children and 14 terrorists, were murdered and hundreds were wounded.
There were no Israeli fatalities or major injuries.
Controlling Gaza, the Islamic terrorist organization Hamas remained on the sidelines.
Israeli forces killed three Palestinian militants and injured scores in a battle that erupted during an arrest raid in the West Bank city of Nablus, a day after the cease-fire ended the bloodiest round of violence in Gaza in more than a year.