Israeli Ambassador to US Travels to Israel After Son Injured in Terror Attack

Ambassador to the United States, Michael Herzog, is en route to Israel following a severe injury sustained by his son, Neria, a reservist soldier, in a car-ramming attack at the Beit El checkpoint on Route 443 in the Benjamin region. Neria was evacuated to Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem. Herzog expressed his belief in prayer and miracles when the people of Israel unite, noting that his son had already completed hundreds of days of reserve duty after his older brother, Moshe Yedida, fell in battle. Security forces at the scene neutralized the attacker, identified as Mahmoud Muhammad Mahmoud Suleiman, 29, from the nearby village of Beit Ur al-Tahta. Security officials believe the attack was premeditated, with the perpetrator, who acted alone, being familiar with the area. He used a vehicle equipped with a yellow Israeli license plate, which had been stolen from a car removed from the road four months prior, allowing him to move without suspicion. The attacker was not known to security services, had no work permit, and should not have been within the Green Line. IDF and Shin Bet forces entered the attacker's village to interrogate his family as part of the investigation.

This incident marks the second attack in the region within a week. On the eve of Yom Kippur, Natanel Shicron, a resident of the Samaria region, was killed in a shooting attack near the settlement of Neve Tzuf in Benjamin. Shicron, who left behind a wife and six children, was shot while at a spring with his eldest son. The attacker, from the Palestinian village of Biddu, was apprehended after a manhunt. Shicron's 16-year-old son, Yoav, recounted the terrifying moments of the attack, describing how his father yelled at him to run as the assailant opened fire.