The son of Israel’s ambassador to the United States was critically injured in a West Bank vehicle ramming attack just hours before Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the United Nations General Assembly.
Yechiel Leiter, the envoy in Washington, confirmed on X that his son Neria Dev ben Chana was being treated at Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem and “needs a miracle.” The attack occurred Wednesday at a checkpoint near the Beit Horon settlement, where the younger Leiter had been serving as an Israeli reserve soldier.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health said that the attacker, 29-year-old Mahmoud Muhammad Mahmoud Suleiman, was shot and killed at the scene. CNN first reported the incident.
“I believe in the power of prayer and believe that when the people of Israel unite, miracles happen,” Leiter said on X.
The ambassador revealed that his son had continued military service despite profound personal loss. “Neria continued to serve in the reserves after losing his older brother Moshe,” Leiter wrote, “and he has done hundreds of reserve duty days on various fronts since October 7th.”
Leiter framed the attack in broader terms of national struggle. “Palestinian terrorism aims to uproot the people of Israel from its land,” the envoy added. “They choose death—we choose life.”
The timing of the assault carried particular weight, coming on the eve of Netanyahu’s defiant address to the UN in New York. The prime minister, 74, delivered his speech Thursday after dozens of nations walked out in protest, denouncing what he called international pressure to accept a Palestinian state. In his remarks, Netanyahu also singled out French President Emmanuel Macron for criticism, calling his UN comments on the West Bank “grotesque” and an “absurdity.”
The Beit Horon checkpoint sits on a major road connecting Jerusalem to settlements in the northern West Bank. Reserve duty there has become increasingly hazardous since the Hamas-led October 7 massacre, which killed some 1,200 people in Israel and triggered the ongoing war in Gaza. Tensions throughout the West Bank have surged in the months since, with Palestinian attacks on Israeli targets and settler violence against Palestinian communities both escalating sharply.
Wednesday’s ramming was not isolated. Israeli authorities announced Thursday that eight people had been arrested for assaults on Palestinians and mosque arsons in the West Bank, and a mosque was reported torched by settlers in a separate incident. Clashes also broke out in Italy as demonstrators struck demanding action over Gaza, while Israel’s ambassador to Germany publicly assailed Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich for attacking Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
Netanyahu himself addressed the Leiter family’s plight during his UN appearance, telling delegates that Israel was “praying for a miracle” for the ambassador’s son. The remark punctuated a speech otherwise devoted to rejecting what he termed international efforts to “shove a terror state down our throat.”
The younger Leiter’s condition remained critical Thursday as his father continued to post updates from Washington. The family had already endured one wartime loss before this latest blow, with Moshe Leiter’s death preceding his brother’s current struggle for survival.
Netanyahu is scheduled to continue diplomatic meetings in New York before returning to Israel.