A tremendous wave of rumors swept through Jerusalem's
chareidi neighborhoods motzei Shabbos parshas Ki
Seitzei following the capture of a band of terrorists on
Yirmiyahu Street, but no one knew exactly what had taken
place. Later reports revealed a tight gag order even
prohibited reporting any court order had been issued.
Just after midnight a low-flying helicopter appeared over
Yirmiyahu, Eli Hacohen and Elkana Streets, illuminating the
entire area with powerful searchlights and drawing hundreds
of local residents onto their balconies.
"I sat on the balcony and suddenly the helicopter started to
circle over my head," recounts a local resident named A.
"Everything was dark when all of a sudden the helicopter
began to light up the area. A few seconds later the
helicopter flew away and in the prevailing silence shouts and
sirens from numerous police vehicles began to sound."
A. went out into the street and walked to the corner of
Yirmiyahu and Eli Hacohen, where he saw a major incident
taking place near the bus stop at 8 Yirmiyahu Street, beside
the wall of the Schneller army base. "I climbed onto the
rooftop of one of the houses and from there I had a view of
the drama that unfolded. At the bus stop a 402 bus from Bnei
Brak was unloading passengers.
"Policemen and GSS agents gathered around an old car nearby.
Most of them had drawn their weapons and were pointing them
at the passengers, ordering them out of the car. The two
passengers refused and then the policemen pulled them out,
beat them (later I saw blood near the bus stop) and quickly
began to search for suspicious objects in the car."
Meanwhile a large gathering of onlookers stood nearby, in
addition to alarmed bus passengers who quickly fled the
scene. "Later I spoke with one of the bus passengers who had
a closer view of the incident and he told me the two people
arrested in the car were unarmed. They appeared to be Arabs.
A short time later a police sapper unit arrived, collecting
everything that was in the car, but apparently they found no
suspicious signs of explosives," A. said.
The entire operation was shrouded in secrecy. It was later
revealed that extensive intelligence efforts led police to
shadow members of the Silwan terror cell, which was
responsible for the murder of dozens of people in numerous
attacks across the country. The interrogation of the pair in
that car, along with a third cell member at a checkpoint near
Ramot, quickly led authorities to the other members, who were
apprehended during the course of last week.
Police quickly issued an order prohibiting all media coverage
of Saturday night's search and arrest, and several residents
who had photographed the event were asked to hand their
cameras over to police to prevent the pictures from receiving
exposure that could hamper the investigation. The information
clampdown resulted in a flood of rumors that gave rise to
endless variations and additions to the basic story.
When the gag order was lifted last Wednesday, reports
revealed the arrested suspects were connected with the
investigation of major attacks at the Moment Cafe in
Jerusalem, a Rishon Letzion nightclub, the cafeteria of the
Hebrew University, Pi Glilot and Israel Railways.
The captured terror cell was associated with Hamas and
operated out of the village of Silwan in East Jerusalem. Most
of its members were Israeli citizens whose Israeli
identification cards allowed them free movement. On
motzei Shabbos they were on their way to carry out
another attack at a crowded location in the center of the
country. After two days of questioning, investigators learned
the explosive device they were planning to detonate had been
hidden by fellow cell members near the entrance to Jerusalem
and it was subsequently neutralized without incident.
