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U.S. Tourist Killed in Stabbing Rampage Near Tel Aviv American Graduate Student Killed in Stabbing Rampage Near Tel Aviv
(about 3 hours later)
RAMALLAH, West Bank — A Palestinian on a stabbing rampage along a coastal promenade near Tel Aviv on Tuesday killed an American tourist, the city’s mayor said. RAMALLAH, West Bank — A Palestinian on a stabbing rampage on Tuesday along a coastal promenade near Tel Aviv killed an American combat veteran who was a graduate student at Vanderbilt University.
The mayor of Tel Aviv-Jaffa, Ron Huldai, said that the attacks occurred along a popular seaside boulevard in Jaffa, about a mile away from where Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. was meeting with Israel’s former president, Shimon Peres. The attacks occurred along a popular seaside boulevard in Jaffa, about a mile away from where Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. was meeting with a former president of Israel, Shimon Peres.
The stabbing attacks, carried out over 20 minutes, came just after Mr. Biden arrived for a two-day visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories, where he is expected to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority on Wednesday.The stabbing attacks, carried out over 20 minutes, came just after Mr. Biden arrived for a two-day visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories, where he is expected to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority on Wednesday.
On Tuesday evening, Mr. Biden was at the Peres Center for Peace in Jaffa, a serene seaside district that adjoins Tel Aviv, when a Palestinian man ran down a popular boulevard attacking groups of people, Israeli media reported. The American was identified as Taylor Force, 29, a student at the Owen Graduate School of Management at Vanderbilt University, the school said in a statement. He was on a school trip to Israel to study entrepreneurship and Israeli start-up companies. His LinkedIn profile said Mr. Force had served as an Army officer from 2009 to 2014, including tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. He was a graduate of West Point.
A video shot by a witness and posted on YouTube by Haaretz, an Israeli daily newspaper, showed a skinny man wearing a hoodie running down the Jaffa promenade, lunging at passengers in passing vehicles. An unseen person could be heard yelling in Hebrew: “Terrorist! Terrorist!” “We have just been notified, and we have no details about anything,” said Mr. Force’s father, Stuart, when reached by telephone.
The assailant killed a 29-year-old American tourist and critically injured his wife, according to the Israeli news website Ynet, and injured eight others before he was shot dead by the police. On Tuesday evening, Mr. Biden was at the Peres Center for Peace in Jaffa, a serene seaside district that adjoins Tel Aviv, when a Palestinian man ran down a popular boulevard attacking groups of people, witnesses said.
The stabbings were part of a day of violence in which five people were killed, including the American tourist, three Palestinian attackers and a 50-year-old Palestinian woman who tried to lunge at security forces with a knife. A video shot by a witness and posted on YouTube by Haaretz, an Israeli daily newspaper, showed a thin man wearing a hoodie running down the Jaffa promenade, lunging at passengers in passing vehicles. An unseen person could be heard yelling in Hebrew, “Terrorist! Terrorist!”
In addition to Tuesday’s victims, a five-month surge in violence has killed nearly 30 Israelis, a Palestinian bystander and an American student. About 180 Palestinians have also been killed, most while attempting attacks, or while suspected of attempting attacks. One of the attackers was a Palestinian-American teenage boy from Tampa, Fla. Luba Samri, a police spokeswoman, said 12 others were injured before the attacker was shot dead by the police.
Israeli media identified the assailant on Tuesday as a 22-year-old Palestinian man from the West Bank. The attack was unusual because it occurred in Jaffa, a celebrated coastal area where Arabs and Jews often mix along the usually crowded seaside boulevards. The assailant was identified as Bashar Masalha, a 22-year-old Palestinian from the West Bank and a member of the Islamist group Hamas, the group said in a statement posted on Twitter.
Earlier in the day, a Palestinian man opened fire on the Israeli police on East Jerusalem’s main commercial thoroughfare, setting off a gun battle in an area usually crowded with shoppers and schoolchildren. The attacker, identified by Israeli media as Fouad Tamimi, 25, was killed, and two Israeli police officers were wounded. The attack was unusual because it occurred in Jaffa, a coastal area where Arabs and Jews often mix along the usually crowded seaside boulevards. Ms. Samri said two Arabs were among the wounded.
Emily Young was walking home from work in Jaffa when, she said, she heard someone yelling: “There is a terrorist! Someone just stabbed someone.”
Ms. Young told Reuters that she called the police before tending to one of the stabbing victims. “I ran over to see what was going on,” she said, adding that a man was lying on the ground with stab wounds above his eye and on his back.
“I took off my jacket and I put it on his eye, and then I tried to turn him over a little bit, not to move him, but just to see if he had also received any other wounds and put pressure on them,” she said.
The stabbings were part of a day of violence in which five people were killed. Along with Mr. Force, three Palestinian attackers and a 50-year-old Palestinian woman who tried to lunge at security forces with a knife were killed.
In addition to Tuesday’s victims, a five-month surge in violence has killed nearly 30 Israelis, a Palestinian bystander and an American student, Ezra Schwartz, 18, who was fatally shot in the West Bank in November. About 180 Palestinians have also been killed, most while attempting attacks, or while suspected of attempting attacks. One of the attackers, Mahmoud Shalan, was a Palestinian-American teenage boy from Tampa, Fla.
Earlier in the day, a Palestinian man opened fire on the Israeli police on East Jerusalem’s main commercial thoroughfare, setting off a gun battle in an area usually crowded with shoppers and schoolchildren. The attacker, identified by Israeli media as Fouad Tamimi, 25, was killed. Ms. Samri, the police spokeswoman, said two Israeli police officers were wounded.
Less than an hour before the shooting, a Palestinian man stabbed a Jewish man in the neck in Petah Tikva, a city near Tel Aviv. The victim pulled the knife out of his own neck and used it to kill his attacker, Israel’s Channel 2 reported.Less than an hour before the shooting, a Palestinian man stabbed a Jewish man in the neck in Petah Tikva, a city near Tel Aviv. The victim pulled the knife out of his own neck and used it to kill his attacker, Israel’s Channel 2 reported.
On Tuesday morning, a 50-year-old Palestinian woman tried to lunge at Israeli security forces in Jerusalem’s walled Old City with a knife. The woman, who was identified as Fadwa Abu Teir, from a nearby Palestinian village, was shot and killed.On Tuesday morning, a 50-year-old Palestinian woman tried to lunge at Israeli security forces in Jerusalem’s walled Old City with a knife. The woman, who was identified as Fadwa Abu Teir, from a nearby Palestinian village, was shot and killed.
At an emergency meeting Tuesday, senior Israeli security officials had determined that the violent incidents were not directly related, Ms. Samri said.