Intel Minister: Israel in State of War After Multiple Stabbing Attacks

Vows to Seek Expulsion of Attackers' Relatives as Military Surrounds Villages

An American university student was killed and 13 other people were wounded today in Israel, some of them seriously, in a “stabbing rampage” in Tel Aviv and Jaffa. All three attackers were killed by Israeli police, and officials say no one else is suspected of involvement in any of the incidents.

With one civilian killed and the attackers all dead, Israeli Intelligence Minister Yisrael Katz declared the situation as a state of war for Israel, dubbing it the result of an “intifada of incitement” and vowing to push a parliamentary bill through allowing the government to expel all relatives of the attackers, whether they were involved in the attacks or not.

Suggesting a further crackdown on people not involved in the attack, the Israeli military also announced a full-scale closure on the West Bank villages of Zawia and Auja on the grounds that two of the attackers were originally from those villages.

A fourth “attacker,” not actually involved in any attacks, was also reported killed, an unnamed 51-year-old woman who police say had a knife on her near a checkpoint.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.