The Mayor of Jerusalem, Nir Barkat, wrestled a Palestinian knife-wielding terrorist to the ground over the weekend and, with the assistance of his bodyguard, held the jihadist down until police arrived on the scene.
Barkat, 55, who serves as mayor of Israel’s capital city, was riding in his vehicle before he sprung into action to disarm the Palestinian terrorist, according to his spokesperson, Brachi Sprung. Video footage of a security camera shows the jihadist attempting to stab multiple pedestrians, making contact with an Orthodox Jewish man, before Barkat got to the scene for the takedown.
“My bodyguard took out his weapon and when he aimed at the terrorist, the terrorist dropped his knife and we immediately tackled him on the ground to make sure that he cannot continue with the terror attack and then went out to see the wounded person that, thank God, was relatively slightly wounded we gave him first aid,” the Jerusalem mayor told reporters.
Barkat, along the vast majority of Israelis, served in the Israel Defense Forces, where he was a Major in a paratrooper brigade, reports NBC News.
The news of Barkat’s heroic deed comes at the same time the Jerusalem mayor has endorsed Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as his preferred candidate in the upcoming Israeli elections. Barkat’s endorsement of Netanyahu may provide a major boost for the Israeli PM’s close campaign against rival Isaac Herzog and his “Zionist Camp” coalition, election analysts have speculated.
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