A Palestinian youth driving a flatbed truck went on a rampage Jan. 8, killing four Israel Defense Forces (IDF) officers, three of them women, on the Armon Hanatziv promenade in southeastern Jerusalem. A few hours later, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made an appearance at the site and announced, “We know the identity of the assailant, who according to all indications supported Islamic State.” According to Netanyahu, IS winds blow everywhere, including in Jerusalem.

The use of a truck to conduct the terror attack was, Netanyahu said, a copycat operation following on IS truck rampages like the ones in Nice and at a Christmas market in Berlin. He also remarked that the truck attacks are emblematic of IS’ founding principles: to sow death and destruction by all means available and anywhere possible. This theory helps the prime minister deflect the damage to his image as “Mr. Security” in the public eye despite the attack; it gives him a kind of alibi to equate Jerusalem with Western cities. Yes, Netanyahu says, the horrific winds of IS also blow here, fateful winds that are extremely difficult to counter or fight.

On Jan. 8, a military bus had stopped on the spectacular Armon Hanatziv promenade in Jerusalem. Dozens of IDF cadets from officer training school got off the bus to hear an explanation from a guide. Suddenly, a medium-sized white truck burst into the area, roared onto the pavement and savagely trampled the group of soldiers who were organizing themselves after getting off the bus. The driver, Fadi al-Qanbar, from the Jabel Mukaber section of East Jerusalem, stopped after a few meters, put the truck in reverse and backed up to run over the wounded. At this point, the guide stormed toward Qanbar and shot him numerous times with his pistol. Qanbar, however, continued his frenzied spree of destruction. Two IDF officers then joined the fray and opened fire on the terrorist with their personal weapons. Qanbar was killed after about a minute of bestial savagery that took the lives of four cadets and sent another 15 to nearby hospitals. At least one of the wounded soldiers is in critical condition.

This was the chronicle of a type of terror attack that defies prediction. Qanbar had never been arrested, was not active on social networks and was not known as an Islamist or even as being particularly religious. The fact that he bore a Salafist-type beard, however, may testify to a recent radicalization in his beliefs. It is still unclear whether he planned the attack with the inspiration of other IS-type truck attacks or whether it was a spontaneous decision when he caught sight of the group of Israeli soldiers on the promenade.