On 21 November 2021, a shooting took place in the Old City of

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

. Fadi Abu Shkhaydem, a 42-year-old Palestinian from

East Jerusalem East Jerusalem (, ; , ) is the portion of Jerusalem that was Jordanian annexation of the West Bank, held by Jordan after the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, as opposed to West Jerusalem, which was held by Israel. Captured and occupied in 1967, th ...

killed a 26 year old Israeli, who had made

aliyah ''Aliyah'' (, ; ''ʿălīyyā'', ) is the immigration of Jews from Jewish diaspora, the diaspora to, historically, the geographical Land of Israel or the Palestine (region), Palestine region, which is today chiefly represented by the Israel ...

from

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

in 2019. He injured four others (including a

rabbi A rabbi (; ) is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi—known as ''semikha''—following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of t ...

) before being shot dead by police. The shooting started as the targets were making their way to prayer. Israeli authorities recorded that Abu Shkhaydem shot the tour guide multiple times, and was later pronounced dead at the

Hadassah Medical Center Hadassah Medical Center () is an Israeli medical organization established in 1934 that operates two university hospitals in Jerusalem (one in Ein Karem and one in Mount Scopus) as well as schools of medicine, dentistry, nursing, and pharmacology ...

in Ein Kerem. The gunman also wounded a rabbi and seriously injured a yeshiva student. Policemen quickly responded by firing at the shooter, killing him. Two of the police officers sustained mild injuries.

Perpetrator

The gunman, Fadi Abu Shkhaydem, was a

high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...

teacher A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. w ...

at the

Rashidiya school Rashidiya School (), or Al-Rashidiya Secondary School for Boys (), is a public school located in East Jerusalem next to Herod's Gate (''Bab as-Sahira''). Rashidiya was established in the late Ottoman Empire era. Today, Rashidiya has approxi ...

from the

Shuafat Shuafat (), also ''Shu'fat'' and ''Sha'fat'', is a mostly Palestinian Arab neighborhood of East Jerusalem, forming part of north-eastern Jerusalem. Located on the old Jerusalem–Ramallah road about three miles north of the Old City, Shu'fat ...

neighbourhood of Jerusalem. He was widely known to be a Hamas member and regularly preached sermons at the

Temple Mount The Temple Mount (), also known as the Noble Sanctuary (Arabic: الحرم الشريف, 'Haram al-Sharif'), and sometimes as Jerusalem's holy esplanade, is a hill in the Old City of Jerusalem, Old City of Jerusalem that has been venerated as a ...

, in addition to taking part in demonstrations against Israeli tourism in the area. His wife, who had gone to

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

three days before to visit her sick mother, was arrested the next day at Allenby Bridge. A police report said he that was most likely politically motivated by "nationalist reasons". In January 2022 the Abu Shkhaydem's house was given a demolition order as part of a general Israeli policy.

Aftermath

The

was closed to visitors immediately following the shooting attack. Later that day,

Hamas The Islamic Resistance Movement, abbreviated Hamas (the Arabic acronym from ), is a Palestinian nationalist Sunni Islam, Sunni Islamism, Islamist political organisation with a military wing, the Qassam Brigades. It has Gaza Strip under Hama ...

confirmed that the attacker was a member of their group and hailed the attack as a "heroic operation". This was the second attack in Jerusalem's Old City in four days, and the first Israeli civilian casualty since the

2021 Israel–Palestine crisis The 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis, sometimes called the Unity Intifada, was a major outbreak of violence in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict that mainly commenced on 10 May 2021, and continued until a ceasefire came into effect on 21 May. I ...

. Many Israeli authorities and organizations condemned the attack, including

Isaac Herzog Isaac "Bougie" Herzog (; born 22 September 1960) is an Israeli politician who has been serving since 2021 as the president of Israel. He is the first president to have been born in Israel after its Declaration of Independence. Son of former Is ...

, the Western Wall Heritage Foundation, and

Naftali Bennett Naftali Bennett (, ; born 25 March 1972) is an Israeli politician and businessman who served as the prime minister of Israel from 13 June 2021 to 30 June 2022, and as the alternate prime minister from 1 July to 8 November 2022. Bennett was t ...

. The following day,

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

and the

United States Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or simply the State Department, is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy of the United State ...

both released a condemnation of the shooting. Dimiter Tzantchev also condemned the attack as "senseless".

References

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