“Behold, He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.” Psalm 121:4
Jerusalem was targeted with a double terrorist attack at two bus stops this past week. The event sent Israelis back to the constant unease created by the Second Intifada of the early 2000s. The double bomb attacks took place on Wednesday morning at 7 a.m. amidst morning rush hour traffic, where thousands of commuters—both Jewish and Arab—routinely pass through on their way to work and school.
The attacks killed 16-year-old yeshiva student Arye Shechopek, as well as 52-year-old Tadasa Tashume Ben Ma’ada, a father of six who made Aliyah 21 years ago from Ethiopia. Almost two dozen more were wounded. Many were asking so I made a video about it the day after the attacks took place.
The bomb attacks and scares in Jerusalem were also taking place against a backdrop of increased communal tensions between Palestinians and Israeli Druze communities in the Galilee region following a horrific sequence of events starting with a car accident on Tuesday evening.
The accident took place on a road near the Palestinian Authority-governed city of Jenin when a Druze youth from northern Israel named Tiran Ferro flipped his car. His friend who was with him in the car was taken to a hospital in Haifa, but Tiran’s injuries required immediate care and so he was taken to the nearest hospital in Jenin. Apparently, word of the Israeli Druze quickly got out—and everyone in our region knows of the value Israel places on its citizens.
So, while Tiran’s parents sat next to his bedside, a group of 20 armed Palestinian men burst into the hospital and kidnapped Ferro, disconnecting him from the machines that were helping stabilize his body. His family present (also Israeli citizens) realized they were being targeted for kidnapping as well and fled the hospital.
The Druze community was livid over the murder-kidnapping. Heavily-armed Druze kidnapped several Palestinians for their own bargaining chips, many others from the community shut down a major highway in northern Israel and demanded the body back by the next day—or else. Intense negotiations, which included involvement by several world governments as well as the U.N., were successful in returning the body to Ferro’s family in Israel early Thursday morning.
“This horrendous crime is a grave and serious human rights abuse,” Israel’s Foreign Ministry wrote. “This horrific attack shows the blatant disregard that Palestinian terrorist organizations in Jenin have for human life. They do not differentiate between man, woman, child, religion or ethnicity. Those responsible will be brought to justice.”
- Father, we thank You that You never need a moment to rest as You watch over Israel.
- We pray for those who have lost loved ones to violence in the last week to be comforted and for those who have been hurt, wounded or injured to receive healing in their bodies, minds, hearts and souls.
- We pray for you to bind up the hurts and ease the fear of all those who were damaged by the recent terror attacks in Israel.
- We pray that you frustrate the plans of those who would like to sow hatred, division and fear in Israeli and Palestinian society.
- We ask that you sharpen the vision of those who work in the security field to see the threats of terrorism, crime, and violence before they happen so they can intercept them and keep the public safe.
- You are our only hope for peace. We ask that You lower tensions in Israel between and within different communities—in a way that will bring glory to Your name.
- Protect those who call on Your name! Show them where to be and not to be when there is danger.
- We have many terror threats, but crime has always been low in Israel.
- Shut down the growing underground criminal world that is bringing violence and drugs into our largely quiet society.
- Help those within this country who are already addicted to substances to get the help they need to overcome their addiction.
- Grant supernatural protection for all police officers, soldiers, medical staff, and others who work to keep Israel safe.
