Palestinian Terrorist Attempts Another Earth Mover Attack; Kassams Keep Coming

A Palestinian terrorist attempted to use an earth mover to kill more Israelis, but an Israeli taxi driver came to the rescue and wounded the attacking terrorist sufficiently that cops could finish him off.

An initial police investigation indicated that the bulldozer driver reached the intersection near Teddy Stadium and managed to push a police vehicle for about 30 meters. After that, he tried to push the police vehicle into a bus, but was apparently blocked by an electrical post.

According to ZAKA, the bus was full of girls dressed in Purim costumes en route to Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital to cheer up patients before the holiday.

A number of bystanders suffering from shock were treated on the scene by MDA teams.

ZAKA operation commander Haim Weinrot said that "the girls were hysterical. They saw the enormous scoop heading toward them and saw death approaching, but they were saved at the last minute by the post. It is a Purim miracle."

Two Israeli policemen were injured as the terrorist used the earth mover to ram and flip the police car the two were driving in. The terrorists (or their copycats - there have been 3 such attacks in the past year) have killed four Israelis - all in the first attack, and in the successive attacks, only the attacking terrorist was killed.

It's a sign that the terrorists can't get their hands on explosives or through the checkpoints designed to keep terrorists out of Israel. They're left trying to come up with means to murder Israelis and are finding it increasingly difficult to accomplish even that. This isn't a sign that Palestinian terrorists have given up the ghost of murdering Israelis or that they're more peaceful now (a meme that deals with the relative lack of violence in the West Bank, but which ignores the constant Molotov cocktails thrown at Israeli security and regular clashes between stone throwers and Israelis) - only that Israelis are ever more effective in deterring terrorists access to Israel in the first place. Loosening travel restrictions, checkpoints, or removing security fencing will only enable the terrorists to resume their deadly goals of murdering and maiming Israelis.

Leave it to Hamas to cheer yet another cowardly terrorist attack and demand that more Israelis be murdered:

Hamas spokesman Munir al-Masri praised the terror attack, and was quoted by Reuters as saying that "this is a natural response to the home demolition in east Jerusalem and to the Israeli aggressiveness in the Gaza Strip."

Israel responds with home demolitions and has been retaliating in Gaza for Hamas terrorists incessantly and repeatedly attacking Israelis. The attacks in Jerusalem are a result of terrorists looking to find ways to infiltrate into Israel and cause mass casualty attacks despite Israel's security cordon.

And yet, the West and the US would rather see Israel lower its defenses as a goodwill gesture - a concession in the name of the peace process? It's asinine. It's also suicidal for Israel to contemplate given that the security has meant fewer terror attacks and bombings and limits the terrorists to cheering that their kassams and mortars can murder Israelis in their schools and homes.

Carl in Jerusalem has more as does Israellycool.

I would be remiss if I didn't point out that Islamic Jihad and the Gazans fired off another six kassams at Israel today in retaliation for yet another Israeli airstrike that killed more of their rocket launchers. Of course, Islamic Jihad vows retaliation for the killing of their murderous thugs who wish to murder as many Israelis as possible with craven rocket and mortar attacks.