JERUSALEM—Three people were murdered and 11 injured when two terrorists jumped from a car at around 7:40 a.m. on Thursday morning and opened fire at people waiting at a crowded intercity bus stop at the entrance to Jerusalem. The murder victims were Rabbi Elimelech Wasserman, 73, a member of the rabbinic court of Ashdod; Chanah Ifergan, 67, a school principal in Ramat Beit Shemesh; and Liba Dickman, 24, a pregnant preschool teacher in Beit Shemesh. The terrorists, who authorities said had ties to Hamas, were shot and killed at the scene.
Six people were hospitalized, with two in serious condition.
Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Israel Yitzhak Yosef, who also serves as president of the supreme rabbinical court, noted that Wasserman, who was on en route to the rabbinic court in Ashdod at the time of the attack, “was a Torah scholar and one of the chosen few ... . The rabbinical courts will sorely miss his influential and benevolent presence. May the Almighty avenge his death and wipe away all tears ... .” Wasserman, who was born in Haifa, moved to Jerusalem following his marriage. He lived in the Unsdorf neighborhood in north Jerusalem, where he was a leading rabbinic authority in the Belz Chassidic community.
Chana Ifergan was en route to Beit Shemesh, where she served as principal of Bnot Hadassah, a Sephardic elementary school in Ramat Beit Shemesh. She was known as a devoted, talented educator and for her kindness to all.
Until last week, she and her husband, Rabbi Shimon Ifergan, hosted evacuees from the southern cities of Netivot and Ofakim in their home in the Makor Baruch neighborhood.
Liba Dikman served as a teacher at the Derech Emunah school in Beit Shemesh. She and her husband, Meir, a scholar at the Mir Yeshivah, lived in the Har Nof neighborhood and were expecting their first child.
The terrorists were from eastern Jerusalem. One was armed with an M-16 and the other with a pistol, said Israel Police Jerusalem District Commander Doron Turgeman at the scene. “A quick reaction by two soldiers who were present at the bus stop and another civilian led to the neutralization of the attackers.”
The bus stop was the scene of a deadly bombing a year ago.
According to the Shin Bet security agency, the brothers had previously been jailed for terror-related offenses. A large amount of ammunition was found in their vehicle.
This story will be updated as new information becomes available.
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