Tel Aviv Dan company bus driver Herzl Biton has regained consciousness after being stabbed repeatedly by a Palestinian Authority Arab terrorist who attacked him while he was driving.

Despite his wounds, he managed to stop the Number 40 bus and open the door to let the passengers escape from the knife-wielding terrorist.

Biton, 55, was seriously wounded in Wednesday’s attack (Jan. 21).

He is hospitalized at Ichilov Medical Center in Tel Aviv. “He fought the terrorist and got hurt more. Please pray for a speedy and full recovery,” his son Yaniv requested.

Biton underwent surgery and was sedated for hours. Although he is no longer fighting for his life, the driver is still in serious condition.  As of Thursday morning eight people were still hospitalized from the attack.

Still fighting for her life and hospitalized at Sourasky is a 69-year-old woman also stabbed by the terrorist.

Two other victims in the same attack are listed in fair condition at Tel Aviv’s Sheba Medical Center. Both are expected to recover.

Hamza Matrouk, 23, of Tulkarm confessed that he launched the attack in hopes of “reaching paradise” in response to radical Islamist jihad programs he had seen on television. He told investigators the attack was also carried out in retaliation for last summer’s IDF counter terror Operation Protective Edge in Gaza, and recent disturbances on the Temple Mount.

Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) agents and IDF soldiers launched a joint operation this morning (Thursday, Jan. 22) to search Matrouk’s home and those of two family members near Tulkarm. Two arrests were made, according to a report broadcast on Army Radio.

A second lone wolf terror stabbing attempt was made by another Palestinian Arab this morning, less than 24 hours after yesterday’s attack.

Police officers in Ra’anana found themselves suddenly struggling with a Palestinian Arab man trying to stab them during an arrest.

The 22-year-old terrorist, a resident of the Palestinian Authority, was originally being detained because he did not have a permit to enter Israel.

While searching him police discovered the man had a knife, but found him suddenly trying to stab them with an additional blade.

No injuries were reported. The attacker was transferred to security personnel at a Kfar Saba precinct for further questioning.

A prison guard unit was credited with gunning down the Arab terrorist who stabbed the driver and nine passengers on a local bus in Tel Aviv Wednesday morning.

The unit was coincidentally driving behind the bus when the guards noticed the bus moving in a reckless manner. At the time, they did not know that the bus driver had been stabbed and had lost full control of the vehicle.

The bus finally came to a stop, and the terrorist and passengers rushed out of the bus.

The guards immediately chased after the attacker, shot in the air and then at his legs when he refused to stop.

An Arab terrorist stabbed the driver and several passengers on a crowded Dan bus on line 40 in central Tel Aviv shortly after 7:15 Wednesday morning. He was shot and  was wounded and is the custody of the police.

The terrorist attacked the driver several times and then plunged his knife at passengers before escaping, with his knife in hand.

Passengers ran after the terrorist, who apparently was shot by a police or security officer.

Magen David Adom said their medics evacuated 10 people, two of them seriously or critically wounded.

All of the victims have been taken from the scene, including five who are being treated for shock.

Police are investigating if the terrorist acted on his own. He is from Tulkarm, east of Netanya.

Hamas praised the attack as “natural reaction” to the “occupation” but did not take responsibility for the stabbings,

Florida philanthropists Dr. Morton and Cynthia Levitt have donated $2.8 million for a scholarship fund for medical education at the Sackler Faculty of Medicine at Tel Aviv University.

Dr.  Levitt is a professor of Clinical Biomedical Science and former Senior Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs at Florida Atlantic University’s Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine.

His professional career includes service in the National Cancer Institute’s Carcinogenesis Bioassay Testing Program, service as a hospital executive and chief medical officer, and more than 20 years in the United States Air Force.

The Levitt scholarship continues a familial legacy of support for the Sackler Faculty of Medicine that includes Dr. Levitt’s parents, their families, and his great-uncle, Harry C. Bernard

The faculty is the largest medical and research training complex in Israel and comprises 1,400 affiliated doctors, including approximately 1,000 teachers, in pre-clinical departments, clinics, medical centers, six psychiatric hospitals, and a large rehabilitation center.

Bloomberg Philanthropies has announced that Jerusalem and Tel Aviv-Yafo are the first non-U.S. cities selected to participate in the $45 million expansion of its Innovation Teams program.

The program aims to improve the capacity of City Halls to effectively design and implement new approaches that improve citizens’ lives  by relying on data, open innovation, and strong project and performance management to help mayors address pressing urban challenges.

Grant funds will allow mayors to hire and fund innovation teams – often called “i-teams” — for up to three years.

Jerusalem will receive $850,000 per year, focusing initially on poverty and economic development. Tel Aviv-Yafo will receive $650,000 per year, focusing initially on issues related to cost of living and illegal immigration.

“Successful innovation depends as much on the ability to generate ideas as it does the capacity to execute them – and i-teams help cities do both,” said philanthropist Michael Bloomberg. “More and more city governments around the world are eager to innovate.”

Bloomberg Philanthropies also announced that grants will go to Albuquerque, Boston, Centennial Colorado, Jersey City, Long Beach, Los Angeles, Mobile Alabama, Minneapolis, Peoria  Illinois, Rochester, Syracuse, and Seattle.

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The Shabak, the IDF and the police foiled a plot by Palestinian Authority Arabs to commit a suicide bombing in Tel Aviv.

Between October and November of this year, security forces arrested a woman and four men, including Yasmin Shaaban of Jenin, and four residents of Atil, a neighborhood in Tul Karem.

Shaaban, a 31 year old woman, was appointed to be the bomber. She was going to dress up like a pregnant Jewish woman to get past security searches.

The plan was to get her an entry permit into Israel for medical reasons, and to use the permit to smuggle both herself and the bomb in.

The Shabak found rifles, bullets and explosives in the terror cell’s possession.

Photo credit: Rotter.net / Tchelet Domeh Layam

The terror cell planned to use a Tel Aviv apartment, currently used by illegal Arab workers, as their staging area.

The group communicated with terrorists from Gaza for help in making the bomb belt.

The cell had also planned other terror attacks.

The following are the names of the arrested:

Mandel Mufak Tufik Takez. From Atil.
Born: 1992
Arrested: 10/26/2014

Maataz Mufak Tufik Takez. From Atil.
Born: 1994
Arrested: 11/3/2014

Yasmin Tisar Elrachaman Shaaban. From Jenin.
Born: 1983
Arrested: 11/3/2014

Abed Alchalak Hasham Alchrim Masimi. From Atil
Born: 1992
Arrested: 11/5/2014

Marwan Machmud Mohamad Tzadki. Atil
Born: 1994
Arrested: 11/24/2014

A synagogue led by a rabbi from the Tzohar movement has been vandalized in Tel Aviv.

Grafitti was discovered sprayed on the walls of the synagogue on Sunday, reading among other things, “In a place where a ‘national law’ is legislated – books will burn!”

Near the synagogue lay a pile of books that had been torched, but none were prayer books or any other sacred texts.

The Tel Aviv International Synagogue is a modern Orthodox congregation that is administered under the auspices of the Tzohar organization.

The “national law” referenced in the grafitti is the Jewish nation-state law now being discussed by the Knesset that was brought before the government by the Likud party.

The issue was raised by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who insisted it was time to formally incorporate into national law those principles that are delineated in the declaration of independence signed by the founders of the State in 1948.