A suspected Islamic terrorist who was arrested in Paris on Monday after crushing two police officers with his car has said that he carried out the action for Palestine. The attacker claimed allegiance to Islamic State. Shortly after 5:30 p.m. in the northern suburb of Colombes the 29-year-old, named as Youssef T, rammed his car at high speed into two police motorcyclists who were standing by their bikes and a patrol car, trapping one of them between the two vehicles. Both of the officers were taken to hospital where one was placed in a medical coma while doctors treated him for head trauma. The other was injured in the legs and pelvis. Both are expected to survive. France’s Interior Minister Christophe Castaner commented: “My thoughts are with our two injured police officers who were employed to protect us.” A judicial source told Reuters the suspect lived in Colombes, about 500 meters from where the attack took place. According to Le Parisien, the attacker told police that he wanted to commit an act of terrorism having watched videos relating to Gaza and Palestine. He also mentioned Islamic State (IS), to which he said he had sworn allegiance. A handwritten letter by the perpetrator was found in the car, behind the sun visor, in which he wrote that he intended to die as a martyr. A knife was also found in his possession. Simon Wiesenthal Center’s director for international relations Dr. Shimon Samuels suggested in a statement that tensions have been whipped up in France over possible plans for Israel to annex part of the West Bank as part of a peace plan put forward by the Trump administration in January. Ambassador to the UN Nicolas de Rivière told the UN Security Council on Thursday that annexation “would constitute a blatant violation of international law, which strictly prohibits the acquisition by force of occupied territories,” adding: “Such steps if implemented would not pass unchallenged and shall not be overlooked in our relationship with Israel.” “The driver [in the attack] claimed he acted ‘for the cause of Palestine,’” Samuels said. “Statements broadcast on social media, such as last week’s [warning to Israel by] the French ambassador at the UN Security Council… may [therefore] have aroused youth in Paris to attack French traffic police ‘in the name of Palestine.’”
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