An Arab terrorist on Monday morning attempted to stab Israelis waiting at a bus stop at the Gush Etzion Junction, south of Jerusalem.

IDF soldiers securing the site shot and injured the terrorist.

No Israelis were harmed in the attack. The terrorist was evacuated by an IDF ambulance to a hospital in Jerusalem in critical condition.

He was reportedly armed with a screw driver.

The Gush Etzion Junction has been the site of multiple terror attacks.

Israel’s Ambassador to Vietnam Nadav Eshkar handed over on Friday medical equipment to the Vietnamese Foreign Ministry on behalf of the State of Israel to deal with the severe Coronavirus (COVID-19) wave that is sweeping the country.

The equipment was handed over to the Vietnamese Deputy Foreign Minister, Mr. Pam Kuang Hsiao in a ceremony attended by representatives of the Vietnamese Ministry of Health.

The equipment, which includes 10 respirators, is intended for a new field hospital opened in the city of Hanoi for the treatment of Corona patients.

In the coming days, Vietnamese will also be given about 10,000 medical masks, 20 oxygen generators, and antiviral plastic sheets to cover surfaces.

For many months Vietnam has managed to block the entry of the virus into its territory very effectively, but since May the country has been contending with a massive wave of infections.

Hsiao thanked Israel for the assistance and noted that it “reflects the growing friendship between Israel and Vietnam.”

Eshkar expressed hope that in a joint effort, Israel, Vietnam, and the rest of the world will “succeed in curbing the pandemic and leaving this crisis behind.”

Foreign Minister Yair Lapid departed Wednesday evening for a brief diplomatic visit to Moscow and will hold a working meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

He will also lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, meet with the staff of the Israeli Embassy in Moscow, and return to Israel on Thursday.

The Foreign Ministry did not state what the focus of the visit is.

Jerusalem and Moscow maintain an open line on the Syrian issue and ensure that Israeli operations in the country do not clash with Russian interests. This may be the reason for the meeting.

The Jewish population worldwide stands at 15.2 million Jews and grew by 100,000 in the past year, according to the Jewish Agency’s report published ahead of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year.

Israel has the largest Jewish population with 6.93 million Jews, accounting for 45.3% of world Jewry.

The largest Jewish population outside Israel is in the US, with around 6 million Jews, followed by France with 446,000, Canada with 393,500, Britain with 292,000, Argentina with 175,000, Russia with 150,000, Germany with 118,000, and Australia with 118,000 Jews.

A total of 8.2 million Jews live outside Israel.

At the end of 2020, eight decades after the Holocaust, the world’s Jewish population has yet to recover from the Holocaust’s devastation. In 1939, on the eve of World War II, the world Jewish population was 16.6 million, of whom 449,000, only 3%, lived in Israel.

A very small number of 27,000 Jews live in Muslim countries, including 14,500 in Turkey, 9,500 in Iran, 2,000 in Morocco and 1,000 in Tunisia.

Jews in this report were defined as those who self-identified as Jewish and not as any other religion.

The Jewish Agency noted that if you count the Jewish population according to those eligible to receive Israeli citizenship under Israel’s Law of Return, which requires at least one Jewish grandparent, there are 25.3 million Jews worldwide.

Several hundred Gazans rioted on the border with Israel on Wednesday night, for the fifth night in a row.

The so-called harassment units rioted, set off explosive charges, burned tires, and made noise through loudspeakers, disturbing Israeli communities in the area.

The IDF responded with crowd dispersal means, tear gas, and accurate fire to key rioters.

Hamas has declared it will step up its attacks on Israel in an attempt to “remove the siege” on Gaza and pressure it into agreeing to various concessions it is demanding from Israel.

In the meantime, Arabs sources reported that for the first time since Operation Protective Edge in 2014, Israel will allow the entry of building materials into the Gaza Strip without the United Nations oversight mechanism, which was agreed upon as a condition for rehabilitating the Gaza Strip after the operation and meant to ensure that Hamas does not use the materials for terrorism.

The UN mechanism measured quantities of materials according to construction plans submitted in advance. The building materials were transported to a storage site that was monitored by the UN and were distributed to holders of a special permit.

The reports say that Defense Minister Benny Gantz approved the unmonitored entry of building materials into Gaza following an Egyptian request.

Hamas has previously been found to steal building materials to build its terror tunnels and military fortifications.