The Judea and Samaria Police District is concerned about a new kind of Arab terrorism, using poison-filled syringes against Israeli security personnel, Walla reported Monday. Police base their concern on an attempted attack a week and a half ago, in which an Arab female, 15, tried to stab soldiers with a syringe that was filled with detergents.
A police intelligence report disseminated last Thursday notes that two syringes had been discovered in the possession of two 15-year-old Arab females, one of whom was wielding hers when they arrived at the check post near Beit Horon, on route 443 (an alternative to Highway 1, connecting Tel Aviv and Jerusalem). In view of the new development, the police called on every last officer to remain alert to the possibility of the use of syringes in attacks and conduct body searches with that possibility in mind.
The female who had wielded the syringe was shot and wounded, and her friend was arrested without injury to Israeli security forces. Both females, residents of Ramallah, also had in their possession knives and a letter with citations from the Koran. In their interrogation, both confessed to a desire to kill Jews. Police believe the substance in their syringes was a combination of bathroom cleaner and dish liquid.
The Judea and Samaria Police District report mentions a 2015 Facebook post by the Commission on Information and ideological Mobilization – Fatah calling on Arab terrorists to use syringes full of poison instead of knives, because “it’s a more efficient and deadly method than using a knife.”
The Fatah-affiliated group’s post recommends that, “in light of the installation of metal detectors at the entrances to Jerusalem to prevent the use of knives, there is a new and simple method — using syringes with firewater, such as benzene or any other poisonous substance.”
However, until the publication of the story in Walla Monday morning, there has been only that one reported instance of an attempted attack with a poisoned syringe.
Stay tuned.
