The attack took place at around 4:35 P.M. The gunman fired an Uzi submachine gun at cars stuck in traffic, and, when his car crashed, stepped out of the vehicle to continue shooting. The attacker was immobilized by a driver, Yuval Lasri, who told reporters that, " I didn’t shoot at him because I wasn’t sure that he was the terrorist, but then I saw the gun next to him and understood that he was.”
Context
This attack shocked the nation coming, as it did, after a period of calm, free of terror attacks. Together with the stabbing at a synagogue in Tel Aviv that occurred only a few hours earlier, it was, "the bloodiest day in Israel since this latest round of Palestinian violence began back in September."
Victims
Ezra Schwartz, an American from Sharon, Massachusetts who was studying abroad. He had recently accepted admission into the Rutgers Business School and was taking a gap year in Israel. Rutgers University President, Robert L. Barchi, lowered the flags to half-staff on Monday, November 23. Schwartz was on his way to a park along with friends with whom he had been constructing, as a volunteer, a memorial park in honor of three Israeli boys who were kidnapped and murdered by Hamas in 2014. A false rumor that many news reports have echoed claimed that he planned to give food to soldiers. He has been buried in the Sharon Memorial Park.
Shadi Arafeh , a Palestinian Arab from Hebron. A Palestinian Authority spokesman falsely claimed that Arafa, who was killed by the Palestinian terrorist, had been shot by Israeli security. Official Palestinian sources alleged that Arafa was slain by Israeli soldiers, despite the fact that the only shots fired during the incident where those fired by the Palestinian terrorist who shot at passenger cars, killing Arafa and 2 Jewish civilians.
Yaakov Don, teacher, father of four from Alon Shvut. Don was taken to Hadassah Medical Center, where he died within hours of the attack.
The shooter was Mohammed Abdel Basset al-Kharoub, from Dir Smat near Hebron. He had procured over $10,000 in guns and ammunition and had been training for the attack for several months, assisted by several adults. He committed the murders to celebrate his birthday, the day of the attack. His mother later told reporters that she was proud of her son.
Impact
Security measures in response to these murders include a temporary order to stop and search all Palestinian vehicles nearing the intersection, revocation of legal permits to work in Israel held by the extended family of the terrorist, and the planning of bypass roads to separate Israeli vehicles from Palestinian vehicles at this spot.
