A second victim of Wednesday’s terror attack, Shalom Baadani died of his wounds at Hadassah Medical Center in the early hours of Friday morning, November 7. The 17-year-old yeshiva student had been hospitalized in critical condition after a Palestinian terrorist slammed his van into two separate locations near Jerusalem’s crowded rail station, injuring 14 others and killing Border Police officer Jidan Assaad, 38, who was buried on Thursday.
Baadani had been riding his bike to the Kotel when he was hit and arrived to the hospital with serious injuries to his head and limbs. Hospital staff could not identify him immediately and he had no identifying documents with him at the time. Baadani remained with the status of ‘anonymous’ for nine hours as he was treated by the Hadassah staff. In those ensuing hours, Baadani’s parents had no idea that their son had been wounded and thought that he had been at the yeshiva at the time of the attack.
Thanks to Haatzalah volunteers who uncovered Baadani’s cellphone at the scene of the attack, Baadani was identified by the photos in his phone and police immediately notified his parents, who recognized their son in the hospital. He is the grandson of Rabbi Shimon Baadani, a member of the Shas Party’s Council of Torah Sages.
Baadani will be laid to rest at the Har HaMenuchot Cemetery at 11 AM in the Givat Shaul neighborhood of Jerusalem on Friday, November 6.
The European Union, Canada and the United States condemned the Jerusalem terror attack, which was carried out by the known Hamas terrorist, Ibrahim al-Akari, 48, from Shuafat in East Jerusalem. Al-Akari’s brother, Musa, was a member of the Hamas cell that murdered border police officer Nissim Toledano in 1992. Musa al-Akari, who was sentenced to three consecutive life sentences in the role of the murder, was released in the Gilad Shalit deal in 2011 and was deported to Turkey.
The terror attack on Wednesday ended when Israeli police shot and killed al-Akhari, who emerged from the large white van that he had used to plow people over, and began to attack others passing by with a metal rod.
During the past week, PA President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah party has been calling for more car terror attacks against Israelis on its official Facebook page. Cartoons and images including a photo of Yasser Arafat, who planned the Second Intifada in 2000, frequently appear on the social media site. Other disturbing images show a man shooting a rifle with the words, “Restore your glory,” which appeared yesterday on the Fatah Facebook page. Another cartoon image shows a car trying to ram into fleeing Jews; with the car in the red, green and black colors of the Palestinian national flag.