Today, Saturday October 10, there were two separate attacks at the Damascus Gate in the Old City. The first attack was made by a 16-year old Palestinian boy who stabbed two elderly men in their sixties. The attacker was shot dead and the two men were taken to the hospital for treatment. A few hours following another attacker at the Damascus Gate stabbed two police security officers, one in the neck and one in the upper body. The attacker was shot dead and another police officer is in serious condition from being hit by friendly fire in their efforts to take down the assailant. All three officers were rushed to the hospital. Both of these attacks caused mob riots in the aftermath that police had to use non-lethal means to get under control.

*Overnight, another Palestinian man was killed after opening fire on Border Police during a full-scale riot at Shuafat refugee camp in east Jerusalem. Police responded to a riot there at around 11 p.m. and were attacked by hundreds of Palestinians who threw rocks, petrol bombs, pipe bombs, and used live fire. On Friday, a Palestinian youth was arrested after punching a 16-year-old Jewish boy in the face and then stabbing him in the shoulder on Jerusalem’s Shmuel Hanavi Street, north of the Old City.
*The recent wave of violence began last month after Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon barred two violent Islamic fundamentalist groups from the Temple for attacking and harassing Jewish visitors. The Palestinian Authority and other Arab groups have since falsely claimed that the Israeli government intends to seize al-Aksa Mosque, despite repeated assurances from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the contrary.

*News reported according to the Jerusalem Post.

These are heavy time for Jerusalem and the nation of Israel as a whole. The tension on the streets in Jerusalem is ever-increasing. We ask for your prayers and intercession. We know that God is working, even in and through these terrible times. We pray for the hearts of Israelis not to become hardened and bent on hatred towards Arabs, something so easily natural to fall into. We pray for the body of believers in Israel to stand as a testimony of God’s love and forgiveness during this time. Pray that believers will seek the Lord and find a way to bless and love our enemies. We ask for prayer for healing and recovery for all of the injured and we also ask for a revelation of Truth in the Messiah for all of those living in darkness and hatred.