Girish Mahajan (Editor)

2015 Tel Aviv attacks

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Location
  
Tel Aviv, Israel

Weapons
  
Knife

Attack type
  
stabbing

Deaths
  
0

Date
  
21 January 2015 c. 7:30 a.m.

Non-fatal injuries
  
13 (including the perpetrator)

The Tel Aviv attacks of 2015 is a terror attack that occurred during the morning rush hour of January 21, 2015. A Palestinian from Tulkarm, West Bank boarded a bus in Tel Aviv. After about 400 metres, the Palestinian attacked the driver, who fought back, before turning to other passengers and attacking them. The bus stopped, with the passengers fleeing, and the Palestinian attacked others too. Israeli police shot the terrorist in the foot and arrested him.

Contents

Twelve people were injured in the attack.

Attacks

At 7:30 am the assailant boarded a bus in Tel Aviv about 7:30 a.m. and rode two stops before attacking the driver with a knife. The driver, Herzl Biton, fought back, using pepper spray. The assailant attacked a number of passengers with the knife before they were able to open the doors of the bus and flee. The assailant pursued the fleeing passengers, stabbing one a second time, before he attempted to flee the scene.

As the assailant attempted to run away, bystanders who happened to be employees of the Israeli prison system gave chase, firing into the air. When the fleeing assailant did not stop, they shot him in the legs and captured him.

Perpetrator

The stabbing attack was carried out by Hamza Muhammad Hassan Matrouk, (23) an illegal immigrant worker from Al Jib in the . His parents are divorced and his father resides in Tulkarem.

Residents of Tulkarem who knew the suspect stated that he was not affiliated with any political party.

Trial and sentencing

Matrouk was a "lone wolf" who told the court that he had been motivated by watching radical Islamic programs on TV; he spoke of, “reaching paradise.”

Noting that the suspect was unrepentant and showed no empathy for his victims, Judge Yaron Levi, of the Tel Aviv District court sentenced Matrouk to 28 years in prison.

Context

Ths stabbing was the first violent incident in Tel Aviv since the November 2014 Killing of Sergeant Almog Shiloni.

The New York Times characterized this attack as representing a new category of threat to Israelis, "attacks carried out with seeming spontaneity by individuals acting without the instruction or backing of an organization."

Response

Hamas leaders praised the attack, calling it a, "natural reaction" on the part of an occupied people. Mousa Mohammed Abu Marzook said, "there is no bigger terrorism than occupying people, stealing their lands, freedom and dignity."

The Popular Resistance Committees responded by asserting that, "Resistance attacks will not stop."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denounced the attack as a direct result of incitement by the Palestinian Authority of president Mahmoud Abbas, "The attack in Tel Aviv is a direct result of poisonous incitement from the Palestinian Authority towards Jews and their state. This is the same terror which tried to harm us in Paris, Brussels and everywhere."

The hashtag #JeSuisCouteau ('I am a knife') and an Arabic translated by the newspaper Haaretz as "#TheKnivesRevolution" instantly spread across the internet in support of the kniving attack on Israeli bus passengers. In addition, many people posted images of knives dripping with blood on social media and called for more attacks on Israelis.

References

2015 Tel Aviv attacks Wikipedia