Police raid east Jerusalem Palestinian Red Crescent ambulance office
Silwan raid takes place days after PRC paramedics drive past dying Jewish father and son gunned down by terrorists in West Bank.
By DANIEL K. EISENBUDUpdated: NOVEMBER 19, 2015 03:42A Palestinian Red Crescent ambulance (photo credit: ABBAS MOMANI / AFP)
Less than a week after Palestinian Red Crescent paramedics allegedly refused to treat Rabbi Ya’akov Litman and his teenage son Netanel after they were mortally wounded in the West Bank, police on Tuesday night raided the east Jerusalem office of the emergency medical service.Last Friday afternoon, Palestinian terrorists opened fire on a van carrying Litman, his wife, three daughters aged 5, 9, and 11, and two sons, aged 16 and 18. The family was on its way to a pre-wedding Shabbat celebration for a fourth daughter outside Otniel, south of Hebron.Litman, 40, and Netanel, 18, died at the side of the road waiting for Magen David Adom paramedics to arrive, when the Palestinian ambulance passed by without stopping to aid the dying father and son, his wife, Noa, said. Noa and her four other children were lightly wounded by shrapnel and the resulting crash, but were not shot.The PRC denied the claim in a message on its website.While police spokeswoman Luba Samri acknowledged that the raid took place at the Silwan office, she did not provide further details.It remains unclear whether any arrests were made and, if so, what the suspects are being charged for.One day after the attack, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu demanded that the International Committee of the Red Cross, which is affiliated with PRC, explain why the Palestinian medics refused to help the family.In a statement, a PRC official claimed that the paramedics intended to treat the Litmans, but that an IDF ambulance that arrived at the scene held them at gunpoint. The IDF patently denies this account.According to an unidentified MDA eyewitness, the PRC personnel did not exit their vehicle and drove past the dying men without stopping.Meanwhile, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas refused to condemn the double homicide when asked about the incident during a Ramallah press conference hours after the attack.
Instead, Abbas deflected the question by blaming Israel for “obstinateness” and “a lack of a diplomatic horizon.”“Our people are living under difficult conditions which have become intolerable,” he said. “The continued Israeli occupation of our country and the escalating violence by settlers who are harming our property is filling us with despair.”