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Photo:
Aryeh Shechopek, 16. Published by IMEMC News and Haaretz

The funeral of 15-year-old Aryeh Shechopek. Credit: Ohad Zwigenberg Published by Haaretz
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by IMEMC News
Nov 23, 2022

Israeli sources have confirmed, Wednesday, the death of an Israeli-Canadian teen and the injury of about twenty-two Israelis in two separate explosions near a bus stop in Givat Shaul in West Jerusalem.

According to Israeli sources, the Police, army, and internal security initiated a massive manhunt looking for those responsible for the two bombings and described the incident as the first of this magnitude of its kind in many years.

Israeli daily Haaretz said the head of the Israeli Police Operations Division, Sigal Bar Zvi, described the explosives used in the two attacks as of “high quality,” adding that the explosives were placed in a bush behind a bus station.

The Police believe that explosives were left several hours before they were remotely detonated, an issue seen as a sign of a pre-planned sophisticated attack. The two explosives were detonated 30 minutes apart.

Haaretz said that blasts killed Aryeh Shechopek, 16, an Israeli teen and a Yeshiva student who also holds Canadian citizenship, adding that his funeral was held in Jerusalem a few hours after he was killed.

Also, more than twenty Israelis were injured in the bombings, including one in critical condition.

Israeli Ynet News said, according to the preliminary evaluation of the bombings, it is believed that several persons are behind the attack that seems to have been in the planning stage for a long period, adding that it does not appear that it was conducted under the direction of the leadership of any armed group.

Ynet added that the persons behind the bombings appeared familiar with the area and scouted its surroundings before choosing the exact time to inflict larger casualties.

It also said that the explosives used in the two bombings were “relatively small but densely packed with nails and metal shrapnel that caused the lion’s share of the damage.”

The Israeli police and security agencies are investigating “whether the people behind the bombings entered Israel from the West Bank and could be from East Jerusalem.”

According to the Jerusalem Post, the explosive used in the second explosion at the Ramot junction was smaller than the first and added that Israeli security and police assessments indicate that the same person likely placed both explosives.

It said that the first explosion occurred at the entrance of Jerusalem near the Central Bus Station, while the second explosive detonated in the Ramot neighborhood, adding that both explosions occurred at bus stops during rush hours.

Following the bombings, the Israeli army and the Police closed all main roads in Jerusalem and deployed hundreds of additional troops in addition to installing roadblocks.

In related news, Israeli colonizers attacked dozens of Palestinian cars and homes in Bethlehem, Hebron, Nablus and several parts of the occupied West Bank, causing damage.

It is worth mentioning that Ynet said a news anchor working with an Army Radio was suspended from her work after insinuating that the Jerusalem blasts “might be connected to the ongoing negotiations to form a coalition government.”

Ynet added that, in an on-air coverage, the anchor, Hadas Shtaif, said “Police also said that due to fruitful negotiations with a certain character who is about to receive a certain position in the new government – emotions are tense, and these emotions also have to do with the situation.”
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Canadian-Israeli Teen Killed in Jerusalem Bombing Was a ‘Charming and Gentle’ Boy

Rabbi Aharon Kahana of the Harei Yehuda Yeshiva where 15-year-old Aryeh Shechopek was a student, called the teen a 'genius' who was beloved by all

by Sam Sokol for Haaretz
Nov 23, 2022

A large crowd gathers in Jerusalem to attend the funeral of the 15-year-old Israeli-Canadian student killed in Wednesday morning’s double bombing in Jerusalem.

The head of the yeshiva attended by him described his former student as a “charming boy” who was “gentle and tender” and beloved by all.

Speaking with Haaretz following the attack, Rabbi Aharon Kahana of the Harei Yehuda Yeshiva in Beit Meir mourned the loss of Aryeh Shechopek, a resident of the Jerusalem neighborhood of Har Nof, calling him a “genius” who sought to advance in his studies “and was very pleasant to his friends, to whom he was beloved.”

“It’s very hard on his friends,” he said.
“I just want to say goodbye to my son Aryeh,” the victim’s father, Moshe, said at the funeral. “I want to apologize to him. God giveth and God taketh away. He was a child who taught us a lesson.”

Rabbi Naftali Schreiver from the Harei Yehuda Yeshiva, revealed that Aryeh “did not feel well this morning and contemplated staying at home. He was advised to stay at home, but he decided to push through and come to the yeshiva. Nobody can say that they every saw anger in this boy, he didn't know what anger was.”

Speaking with the ultra-Orthodox news site Kikar Hashabbat, Rabbi Shlomo Ginzburg, another of Shechopek’s rabbis, said that the young man was “brilliant” and “a very nice guy with a smile.”

“Everyone loved him. Everyone wanted to be in his company,” he said.

According to Behadrei Haredim, another ultra-Orthodox news site, Shechopek was on his way to yeshiva when he was killed – even though he had been feeling unwell and his mother had urged him to remain home.

Twenty-two people were wounded in the double terror attack on Wednesday, including one in critical condition and two in serious condition, when two explosive devices were remotely detonated at a crowded bus stop in Jerusalem. No group has taken responsibility for the deadly attack.

A senior security official told Haaretz that the character of the twin attacks indicates that there is significant infrastructure behind them, including intelligence, the obtainment and preparation of explosives – while a police source stated that the devices were likely controlled remotely and contained nails. Both of the devices were place inside bags.

Sigal Bar Zvi, head of the police operations division, said that the explosive charges were very powerful and of “high quality.”

“We are witnessing a series of terror attacks, mostly in Judea and Samaria [the West Bank] and today in Jerusalem. It is clear that there is an intention to harm the public resilience and morale,” he said.

The attack was condemned as “abhorrent” by the Canadian Embassy while the United States embassy in Jerusalem said that it condemned the attacks in the “strongest possible terms” and is currently “closely monitoring the situation.”

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