BICOM

Eight people were wounded in south Tel Aviv early Monday when a Palestinian man from the West Bank city of Nablus ran over policemen with a stolen taxi, exited the vehicle and stabbed additional people. In total, eight people were wounded in the incident before the perpetrator was subdued and arrested. The district court yesterday remanded the suspect for another twenty-four hours, while the investigation continues. The police are still working out who is behind the attack and have placed a gag order on the investigation.

The attack occurred at a popular large nightclub venue, Haoman 17, in Tel Aviv around 1:30am in the morning. Around 2,000 people were in the nightclub. Israeli Border Police were on duty at the event and their presence prevented the situation from being much worse. The Palestinian Authority condemned the attacks, saying that it is against any attacks on civilians. The US State Department also strongly condemned the attack, and added that attacks on civilians “could never be justified.”

An investigation is currently underway to determine if the attack can be attributed to the perpetrator’s own motives, as opposed to those of a terrorist group. The fact that he was armed with just a knife indicates that the man was most likely operating alone. Israeli commentators have suggested that this attack represents an increase in “popular terrorism” – terrorism initiated without the backing of an organisation or state – which goes hand in hand with the atmosphere that has taken root in the West Bank ahead of the Palestinian initiative at the UN in September.