Itongadol.- Israeli authorities on Friday believe that the stabbing of a 37-year-old Border Police officer in the northern town of Nahariya was motivated by nationalist sentiments.
The stabbing occurred near the central bus station on Haga\’aton Boulevard in the city. The victim suffered light-to-moderate wounds and was rushed to Western Galilee Hospital in Nahariya.
"The young man was lightly stabbed a short time ago near the central bus station and was rushed to hospital," the Magen David Adom first aid service said. "The suspect fled the scene and investigators are searching the area nearby. The crime apparently was motivated by nationalism."
Nahariya police arrested the suspected assailant, a 16.5-year-old teen from an Arab village in the Western Galilee.
According to a police statement, the suspect claims that he stabbed the officer in response to physical abuse he endured from him just moments earlier.
If authorities confirm that this was indeed a racially motivated incident, it would be the third such attack of the day.
Earlier on Friday, seven IDF soldiers were injured in two separate car-ramming attacks by Palestinian motorists in the West Bank.
Two IDF soldiers were wounded in a suspected vehicular-ramming terror attack near the West Bank settlement of Kfar Adumim on Friday morning.
According to the IDF, the soldiers were in moderate condition.
The suspected assailant was shot and killed at the scene.
Hours later, a Palestinian assailant rammed into six IDF soldiers as they stood on the side of the road, near the entrance of the Palestinian village of Beit Ummar off of Route 60 in between Gush Etzion and the West Bank city of Hebron.
The assailant was shot and killed while he was still in his car. A Palestinian flag lay on the seat of his blue vehicle. According to Palestinian reports, the driver was identified as Issa Arafat, 18, of Beit Ummar.
Two of the injured soldiers were officers. One was treated at the scene and the others were evacuated to Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem by Magen David Adom with moderate-to-light injuries.