On Wednesday, multiple cars drove into a crowd of protesters in Tel Aviv along the city’s main highway where thousands had gathered to show solidarity with the popular police chief.
A video of the incident going viral on social media shows a photographer getting struck by one of the cars. Some people in the crowd chased after the car, and the driver was arrested. Apart from the photographer, minor injuries were reported as well.
Israel’s police commissioner, Yaakov Shabtai, called the driver a “terrorist” and praised the crowd members for nabbing him.
“Circumstances are being examined regarding his background and motive and I would like to praise the activity of the citizen with a lot of courage, that he was able to thwart the attack and prevent the continuation of that terrorist’s killing spree,” said Shabtai.
This is an Israeli car ramming into protesters – civilians.
A day after a Palestinian did the same to innocent civilians in Tel Aviv.
Our blood remains on Netanyahu’s hand for it his incitement which led to this: pic.twitter.com/sl9D72tqbA
— Danielle Bett (@daniellebett) July 5, 2023
Thousands of people had blocked the Ayalon Highway, holding the blue and white Israeli flags, after Tel Aviv police chief Amichai Eshed announced his resignation from the force. Eshed said he quit over political intervention by members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s hard-right cabinet who reportedly wanted him to use excess force to cull the protests.
“I am paying an intolerably heavy personal price for my choice to avert a civil war,” Eshed said.
Although Eshed did not mention Itamar Ben-Gvir, the National Security Minister, it was clear that pressure from the far-right leader was the reason for his departure. The Israelis have been protesting against the judicial overhaul proposal by the Netanyahu government. Ben-Gvir on multiple occasions has batted for using heavy-handedness to deal with the protesters.
Stabbing incident reported in the capital
Wednesday’s incident comes a day after at least seven people were injured, with four in serious condition after a car rammed into people on the sidewalk. The car driver later got out and started stabbing people, forcing police to deem it a “terrorist attack”.
The assailant was then “neutralised” at the scene by a civilian first responder, an Israeli police spokesperson told Israel’s Army Radio.
The Islamist Hamas group said the attacker, identified as 23-year-old Abdel-Wahab Khalyleh, was its member, calling the attack “an act of self-defence in the face of the ongoing Zionist massacre in Jenin”.
(With inputs from agencies)
