Moshe Plesser

18-year-old Moshe Plesser is the off-duty Israeli soldier who shot and killed Hosam Dwayyat, the Palestinian man who rammed a bulldozer into a crowd of pedestrians in an apparent terrorist attack in Jerusalem on July 2, 2008. Plesser was riding his bicycle when he realized what was happening and took action.¹

Fast Facts

1. Plesser was unarmed when he saw the attack¹
2. Said he was given a gun by someone in the crowd¹
3. Plesser chased down the bulldozer, climbed inside and struggled with Dwayyat before shooting him¹
4. Bulldozer rammed a city bus and several cars²
5. Three people were killed; more than 40 injured²
6. Reports say a baby was thrown from a vehicle by its mother just before the bulldozer crushed her car³

Family Ties

Moshe Plesser's brother-in-law, David Shapira, is an Israeli Defense Forces soldier who shot a suspected terrorist during a deadly March 2008 attack on the Mercaz Harav Yeshiva religious seminary. Plesser says Shapira's actions served as a "personal example" to him.⁴

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