Neria Leiter, son of Israel’s US ambassador Yechiel Leiter, was seriously injured in a ramming attack in the West Bank on Wednesday.Neria, a reservist in the Israeli military, “needs a miracle,” his father said in a social media post. The ambassador’s older son, Moshe Yedidya Leiter, who also served in the military, was killed in Gaza about a month after the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas, which triggered the war in Gaza.“I am grateful to the IDF and the medical team at Shaare Zedek who are now fighting for the life of Neria Dev ben Chana, and to the prayers of the people of Israel. I believe in the power of prayer and believe that when the people of Israel unite, miracles happen. Neria needs a miracle,” Yechiel Leiter posted on X.“Neria continued to serve in the reserves after losing his older brother Moshe Yedida Lighter HY”D, and he has done hundreds of reserve duty days on various fronts since October 7th. Palestinian terrorism aims to uproot the people of Israel from its land. They choose death—we choose life,” he added.According to the Israeli military and law enforcement, a Palestinian man rammed his car into a security checkpoint near the settlement of Beit Horon on Wednesday afternoon, seriously injuring the soldier, later identified as Neria Leiter.Israeli forces at the scene shot and killed the man as he attempted to flee. The Palestinian health ministry identified him as Mahmoud Suleiman.Additional military forces were deployed in the area, which is crossed by a major highway linking Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Isaac Herzog wished Leiter a speedy recovery. Herzog described him in a social media post as “fighting for his life.”Netanyahu visited Leiter’s family at the hospital before leaving for the UN General Assembly in New York, where the Iran war is a major focus of the gathering.The attack occurred during the Jewish High Holy Days, shortly after Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement and the holiest day in the Jewish calendar.Yechiel Leiter was a key figure in the first direct diplomatic talks between Israel and Lebanon in decades, held in Washington in April.In June, Leiter, along with Lebanon’s ambassador to the United States, and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced a framework agreement between Israel and Lebanon, describing it as a “first step towards peace” after months of renewed fighting involving Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militant group based in Lebanon.(With AP inputs)
