Stabbed Border Police officer regains consciousness, remains in serious condition

Danino hails wounded officer as a hero; Police disperse riot at Damascus Gate Sunday night.

By DANIEL K. EISENBUD
Updated: JUNE 23, 2015 09:01
Passers-by walk near the Damascus Gate in Jerusalem's Old City [File[ (photo credit: REUTERS/AMMAR AWAD)
Passers-by walk near the Damascus Gate in Jerusalem's Old City [File[
(photo credit: REUTERS/AMMAR AWAD)
Following emergency surgery for stab wounds to his neck and chest, Border Police officer Roz Ben-Carmela, who shot his assailant after being attacked near Jerusalem’s Damascus Gate on Sunday, was hailed as a hero by Israel Police Insp.-Gen.
Yohanan Danino on Monday.
During a bedside visit with the recovering officer and his family at the capital’s Shaare Zedek Medical Center, Danino praised his quick response, despite being critically wounded.
“They told me what happened to him after the stabbing, and it enhances his heroism,” Arutz Sheva reported Danino said to the family.
“When I hear about the level of the injury and how he behaved after the injury, you should be proud of him. I’m proud of him as commander of this entire organization. He just went and acted like we expect a fighter at this level to act.”
Citing several terrorist attacks over the last few months, during which officers either arrested or killed the suspects before they could do more harm, Danino praised the police for protecting citizens throughout the nation.
“All these recent events show that we simply have heroes here,” he said. According to the recovering officer’s family, Danino prayed with them for his recovery.
Meanwhile, at around 10 p.m. on Sunday night more violence erupted at the Old City’s Damascus Gate, when some 200 Arabs gathered and began throwing rocks and firebombs at responding police units before being dispersed with stun grenades.
No arrests were made and no injuries were reported, police said.
In another incident, after claiming his Ma’aleh Hazeitim home on the Mount of Olives was attacked by Arabs on Sunday for the 52nd time in two years, Jerusalem Councilman Arieh King said he will establish a private security patrol due to alleged police inaction.
In a Facebook posting, King attached images of the aftermath of the latest firebomb and rock attack on his front porch.
“This afternoon around an hour ago terrorists attacked our home with four Molotov cocktails and dozens of rocks,” he wrote.
“In light of the continued abandonment and inability of the police to stop the attacks against us, starting tomorrow at 9 p.m. we will place an independent security force on Panorama Street,” where he said the majority of attacks have taken place.
In the posting, King added that the home of his neighbor, a major in the IDF who was stationed at his base at the time, was set on fire during the latest attack “Can it be that IDF officers… will leave behind their families at home to be abandoned in the hands of radical Muslim terrorists, while these officers spends days and nights on their bases?” he wrote. “What is the Israel Police waiting for? Until someone pays with their life because of their negligence?”