A middle-aged Orthodox Jew in Jerusalem was attacked by a young Arab Muslim wielding an axe.  Fortunately, the attacker did not succeed in killing his victim.

As reported by ynet and by the Jerusalem Post.

The Ynet version first, Raanan Ben-Zur reporting.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4211119,00.html

'Jerusalem: Man Lightly Hurt in Ax Attack'.

'A 55 year old ultra-Orthodox man was lightly hurt Monday by an Arab youth wielding an axe, the police said.  The attack took place near the city's Damascus Gate.

'The assailant fled the scene on foot.  Police and emergency services team are on the scene, and a manhunt is in progress.

'The man was evacuated to Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital in Jerusalem.

'According to the police, "An Arab assailant attacked a Jewish haredi man near the Damascus gate.  He struck him on the head (I wonder whether he was aiming for the neck, trying to behead his victim as per the Quranic instruction to 'smite at their necks'? - CM) and the two struggled, before the assailant fled the scene".

'The ax was found at the scene.

Good. Let's hope it has lots of fingerprints on it...With any luck, the attacker will have a criminal record of some sort and can be identified. - CM

'Magen David Adom spokesman Zaki Heller told Ynet that, "At 8.21 am we received a call saying a man was attacked on the corner of Ha Nevi'im and Bar-Lev streets, near the Damascus Gate.

"An ambulance arrived at the scene within minutes.  The paramedics found the man who was attacked sitting on the sidewalk and presenting with head and torso injuries.  He told them he had fought off his assailant."

An unarmed haredi dad of 55, taken totally by surprise, having to defendi himself against a crazed Arab Muslim 'youth' (a teenager? in the twenties?) who had an axe - and he prevailed, putting his attacker to flight.  What a mensch. - CM

'Heller added that the man suffered wounds to the back of his head (oho - this tells me that the Arab Muslim attacked from behind - CM), his hands and his waist, adding that he told paramedics he was attacked by an Arab man.

'Jerusalem Police spokesman Shmulik Ben Rubi told Ynet that police and Shin Bet forces were canvassing the area for the suspect.

There were Comments to the article; no 11 stated "when I go to the Western Wall on Shabbat I always look around.  Once I was assaulted by a young Arab man (that is, by a young Arab Muslim man - CM) wielding a stick at a deserted corner, but I managed to run away.  I didn't alert the police.  It's simply useless...".

And now for what Jerusalem Post 's Jeremy Sharon, and J Post Staff, made of the same incident.

http://www.jpost.com/NationalNews/Article.aspx?id=264571

'Arab attacks Jewish man in east Jerusalem'.

That should be 'Muslim attacks Jew in Jerusalem'. - CM

'Haredi moderately hurt by axe-wielding assailant.

'An Arab youth wielding an axe attacked and injured an elderly Jewish man in Jerusalem Monday morning, in what the police described as a nationalistic or terror-motivated attack (oh please, Jerusalem police, face the facts: this attack, just like the murders in Itamar and Toulouse, was driven by the Jew-hatred hard-wired into Islam - CM) on Hanevi'im Street, just outside the Old City's Damascus Gate.

'The victim, identified as Nahum Weisfish, suffered light to moderate wounds, including cuts to the head, waist and hands...

'The assailant fled the scene following the attack.  Police forces said they were conducting a broad search operation to apprehend the suspect.

'According to eyewitnesses, Weisfish struggled with the youth in an attempt to fight him off.

And none of the eyewitnesses tried to help? - CM

'Yitzhak weiner, an MDA paramedic who treated the victim at the scene, said that Weisfish sustained several wounds and was in shock when the ambulance arrived to treat him.

"He was in shock and extremely scared", Weiner said.

'Weiner added that eyewitnesses at the scene had told the MDA personnel that an Arab youth ran toward the victim, and struck him several times with the axe.

'Monday's attack comes after a similar attack in the capital less than three weeks ago, when a Palestinian teenager (that is, an Arab Muslim teenager - CM) named Muhammad Shuman (named Muhammad - what a surprise! - CM) stabbed a 19-year-old female soldier on the capital's light rail network, seriously wounding her.

'In response to an inquiry by The Jerusalem Post about the attacks and further such incidents, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said that police officials are assessing the security situation "on an operational and intelligence level in order to prevent future attacks".

And the Jerusalem Post proceeds to engage in a spot of 'yes, but we're as bad as they are'. - CM

'Last week, two Jewish men, one adult and one minor, were arrested on suspicion of assaulting a 20 year old Arab resident of East Jerusalem with a wooden beam on the light rail network.  The victim was lightly injured."

I would like to know much more about this incident - are the alleged perpetratora, perhaps, known criminals? did they attack the Arab out of the blue? is there CCTV footage, and/ or eyewitnesses, and are the witnesses Muslims or Jews, and what do the alleged attackers say happened? -  before assuming that there is any sort of equivalence between it and the Muslim stabbing of the female soldier (which just missed killing her) and the Muslim axe attack on Mr Weisfish.  Furthermore, the number of individual Arab Muslim assaults upon - and killings of - random Jews in the street within Israel would far outnumber, I suspect, the number of attacks that can be classified as unprovoked attacks by Jews upon random Arab Muslims. -

A further thought: had Mr Weisfish, in the struggle at the Damascus Gate, wrested hold of the axe and scored a return blow on his assailant with it, would the Muslim now be crying victim and pressing charges? - CM