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‘After two or three shots the terrorist’s weapon jammed, and he panicked.’
By Ben Rappaport, United with Israel
Menashe Haas, the son of Rabbi Moshe Yosef ben Malka Haas, 50, one of the two victims shot in the terror attack yesterday in the Shimon Hatzaddik neighborhood of Jerusalem, is optimistic about his father’s recovery.
Both victims were defined as moderately wounded, TPS reported. Following the attack, Rabbi Haas was taken to Shaare Zedek Medical Center, while the other victim, Rabbi Jacob ben Panina Mozes, 48, was taken to Hadassah Mount Scopus hospital with a gunshot wound to the chest, according to Israel National News.
“My father had a three-hour operation and is currently recovering from that, and we hope he will have a complete recovery and that he will be able to put the whole incident behind him,” Menashe related in a conversation with Israel National News.
He noted that his father was saved miraculously. “He experienced a big miracle, because after two or three shots the terrorist’s weapon jammed.”
“Because of the jammed weapon, the terrorist panicked,” Menashe added. “He repeatedly tried to fix the jammed weapon, but when he was unsuccessful, he threw the weapon away and fled the scene.”
He explained that his father had been in the area for early-morning prayers at the Tomb of Shimon Hatzaddik at the time of the attack. “For many years now, my father has gone to pray at Shimon Hatzaddik every day at dawn. There’s a big minyan [prayer quorum] of about a hundred men there,” he said, noting his father is one of the long-standing members of that minyan.
Menashe said his father related that at the time of the attack, he did not immediately realize he was being shot at because he was not facing the terrorist. “He thought stones were being thrown at them because the terrorist was standing to the side.”
Israeli security forces on early Wednesday apprehended the terrorist, according to a joint statement from the Israel Defense Forces and the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet).
The terrorist was caught during a raid in the Samarian city of Nablus (biblical Shechem) that included the IDF, Shin Bet and the Border Police’s Yamam counterterrorism unit. No casualties to Israeli forces were reported.
The suspect, a teenager from the Askar refugee camp on the outskirts of Nablus, was transferred to the Shin Bet for questioning.
Israel Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai praised the quick work of security forces that led to the predawn arrest.
“From the first moment that the police forces from the Jerusalem District and the soldiers of the Border Police rushed to the scene of the attack, we used many forces and together with accurate intelligence we managed to get our hands on the terrorist,” Shabtai said.
“Let every terrorist know that the long arm of the security system will reach wherever he escapes to and wherever he hides,” he added.
TPS contributed to this report.
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