Israeli police braced for the funeral Saturday of a Palestinian terrorist who drove into a crowd, killing a three-month-old baby, with tensions further stoked after the IDF was forced to shoot a Palestinian teenager terrorist dead Friday.
Police were “ready for anything” after fresh disturbances in Arab east Jerusalem prompted four arrests overnight, spokeswoman Luba Samri told AFP.
Tensions intensified last week, after Wednesday’s terror attack in which Abdelrahman Shaludi, 21, from the Silwan (Shiloach) neighborhood rammed his car into a pedestrian walkway near the Givat Hatachmoshet (Ammunition Hill) train station, wounding eight people and fatally wounding baby Chaya Zisel Braun, hy”d.
Shaludi was shot dead by police as he fled on foot. He was later revealed to be a Hamas terrorist and a close relative of a former military leader in the terrorist organization.
Palestinian sources told AFP that he was to be buried in Jerusalem at 10:00 pm (1900 GMT) Saturday.
Public radio said the timing was set by Israeli authorities, who also imposed a maximum limit of 80 mourners for fear the event could turn into a violent protest.
Meanwhile, police have also been bracing for the funeral of Palestinian teenage terrorist Orwa Hammad, shot dead Friday after he lobbed firebombs at Israeli civilians.
Hammad’s relatives said his funeral would take place on Sunday, to allow his father time to travel from the United States where he is a resident citizen.
They also claimed the teenager, also a US national, was 14 and not 17 as initially reported by Palestinian officials.
Both incidents mark the latest escalations in a series of rock attacks and firebomb attacks by Arabs, which has come to be known as the “silent intifada”.
While the “silent intifada” has so far not been named by officials as a full-fledged Arab uprising, Science and Technology Minister Yaakov Perry (Yesh Atid), formerly the head of the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet), warned Thursday that the situation in Jerusalem is a “ticking time bomb” which will lead to a full-fledged third intifada.
