Jerusalem – Aish HaTorah Rabbi Wounded In Jerusalem Knife Attack Dies

Jerusalem – Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem announced on Wednesday that one of the Israelis critically wounded in a stabbing attack by a Palestinian near Jaffa Gate in the Old City has died.

The Jewish man who was apparently wounded by the police as they shot at the Palestinian attackers.

Police spokeswoman Luba Samri said the attack happened outside the city’s Jaffa Gate, a popular spot for tourists visiting Jerusalem’s walled Old City. She said police shot both assailants who were later identified as Palestinians in their early 20s from the West Bank. One died at the scene and the second later, in hospital.

Three people were seriously wounded in the attack, one of whom later died from gunshot wounds, said hospital spokeswoman Shoham Ruvio. She identified the deceased as a 40-year-old Jerusalem resident.

The other two victims remain in intensive care. They are listed in serious-to-critical condition.

Managing Director of Aish HaTorah Rabbi Steven Burg posted on his facebook page that “It is with great sorrow that I must inform you of the passing of Rav Reuven Biermacher HY”D, beloved Rebbe in the Aish HaTorah Spanish program”. “He spent the morning teaching Torah and was murdered on his way out of the Old City”.

Rabbi Biermacher was a father of seven from the town of Kiryat Ye’arim, also known as Telz-Stone near Jerusalem.

The death of Rabbi Biermacher brings the death toll to 23, including at least one other person hit by friendly fire, in nearly three months of attacks in Israel and the West Bank.

Police were investigating a video which had surfaced on social media which appeared to show a man beating one of the shot assailants with a pole, Jerusalem police spokesman Asi Aharoni told Army Radio.

Israel says the violence is a result of a Palestinian campaign of lies and incitement. Palestinians say it stems from frustration at nearly five decades of Israeli military rule.