The driver who rammed into participants at a Chabad Lag BaOmer parade in Be’er Sheva was apprehended by police. Despite official claims that the incident is not being treated as a terror attack, eyewitness accounts strongly suggest it was a deliberate act of terror.

According to reports, the driver – a 32 year old resident of the Bedouin diaspora from Ar’ara in the Negev – sped into the parade route and struck children and participants.

The incident unfolded Monday evening, when a vehicle drove into the crowd during a Chabad Lag B’Omer parade.

It took place on Avigdor Hameiri Street in the Neve Ze’ev neighborhood, where families and children had gathered for the annual Lag B’Omer celebration in honor of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai.

Initial reports indicate that the vehicle broke through police barriers and drove directly into the crowd. Police forces arrived shortly afterward and arrested the driver at the scene.

Magen David Adom said the call came in at 7:57 PM. Paramedics treated several victims on site and transported three injured individuals to Soroka Medical Center: a 4-year-old girl with a head injury, a 19-year-old, and a woman around 40.

“This is a parade organized by the cheder my son attends”, said M., a local resident who attended the parade with her family.”Every year on Lag BaOmer they make a big event where everyone marches together through the streets toward the school. Our whole family was there.

“Everything was calm and beautiful. I was standing in the middle of the parade, on the sidewalk, when suddenly I heard shouting from the front”.

“I saw people running to the sides, and a car speeding straight into the crowd on the road. He bypassed a police vehicle that was blocking the street, and people were banging on his windows, screaming at him to stop – but it didn’t help.

“Someone jumped onto the car, but the driver kept going wildly and he fell off. Another young man tried to stop him and grab the steering wheel. I’m still in shock, and my 10-year-old son is still traumatized. He couldn’t fall asleep alone last night and went to sleep with his sister. He saw it happen right next to him.”

Elazar Faraj, who jumped on the car and was injured, described the dramatic moments during an interview on Kol Barama’s main broadcast:

“In the middle of the parade, a car suddenly appeared and began running people over. I was the first to fall, and he hit me. I got up and ran to his window, grabbed the steering wheel while hitting him in the face, and shouted that this was a terror attack.”

Several others were treated at the scene for minor injuries and Boruch Hashem, no serious injuries were reported.

Police stated that the driver was allegedly under the influence of alcohol and, at this stage, the incident is being investigated as dangerous driving rather than a terror attack. He was arrested on suspicion of endangering lives and causing injury.

“The driver used the vehicle while intoxicated, was involved in a self-accident, and as a result several pedestrians were lightly injured”, the police report stated.

However, participants at the event strongly dispute that assessment.

“He drove straight in on purpose,” said M. “There’s no chance this was an accident. If this isn’t considered an attack, then what is?”

“He tried to run over as many people as possible”, Faraj says. “The driver fled, and the police managed to arrest him. They are still claiming it was not a terror attack.”

“There’s no way,” said Mrs. Bruria Efune, whose husband and daughter witnessed the incident. “The car managed to weave perfectly past the police blockade, through the police escort, and then out again.”

But M. strongly rejects that version.

“It’s unbelievable that something like this is being brushed off as an accident – it doesn’t make sense,” M. says. “I saw him with my own eyes, charging straight into the crowd. There was a police vehicle and even a truck blocking the area – he went in intentionally. There is no way this was a mistake. People are furious. How can this be covered up?”

Police said this morning that the suspect will be brought to the Be’er Sheva Magistrate’s Court for a hearing to extend his detention.

After the initial panic subsided, the parade resumed, and children returned to the program. Many were seen dancing with simcha, thanking Hashem for the open nissim they had just experienced.