Beijing police said they had arrested a suspect, a 53-year-old foreign man. They said the victim is a family member of an Israeli diplomat. No motive was given for the attack.
“The employee was transferred to hospital and he is in a stable condition,” an Israeli government statement said, without giving additional details.
The incident came after Israel criticized China’s statement following the unprecedented and deadly incursion by the militant group Hamas into southern Israel last Saturday. The attack sparked an ongoing war between Israel and Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip. The stabbing occurred as Muslims across the world took to the streets in large protests after Friday prayers over Israel’s intense bombing campaign in Gaza.
Just before the announcement, Israel’s Foreign Ministry said Ambassador Rafi Harpaz had spoken Thursday with the Chinese envoy for the Middle East, Zhai Jun, to express his country’s “deep disappointment” over China’s comments after the Hamas incursion.
There was “no clear and unequivocal condemnation of the terrible massacre committed by the terrorist organization Hamas against innocent civilians and the abduction of dozens of them to Gaza,” the statement said. “The Chinese announcements do not contain any element of Israel’s right to defend itself and its citizens, a fundamental right of any sovereign country that was attacked in an unprecedented manner and with cruelty that has no place in human society.”
An earlier Chinese statement about the phone conversation said that Beijing condemns actions that harm innocent civilians and is “deeply concerned over the escalation of tensions and violence … and saddened by the civilian casualties caused by the conflict.”
Asked about the Israeli statement, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin reiterated that China opposes acts harming citizens and violating international law.
“China will continue to work unremittingly for de-escalation of the situation and the resumption of peace talks,” he said.
In Beijing, about half-a-dozen plainclothes police were stationed outside the Israeli Embassy in addition to the normal contingent of uniformed officers. Some 2 kilometers (1.25 miles) away at the Palestinian Embassy in Beijing, plainclothes officers were also on hand and one was tightening wires on a fence.
Since the war broke out, antisemitic remarks have surged on Chinese social media. Bombarded with hostile messages, the Israeli Embassy in Beijing is filtering comments on its Chinese social media account.
The embassy selected a comment that said, “Support Israel! Destroy the terrorist organization!” — the remarks got 5,700 likes.
China: US fueling tensions
Chinese state media have blamed the United States for fanning tensions in the region.
“The Chinese government has always propagated a narrative that places the blame squarely on Israel, a key U.S. ally, because this aligns with a key objective of [the ruling Communist Party’s] propaganda: to undermine the U.S. in the international community,” said Yaqiu Wang, research director for China, Hong Kong and Taiwan at Freedom House. “This time, it is no exception.”
While the United States remains Israel’s top ally, China in recent months had tried to reach out to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ultranationalist and ultra-Orthodox government as tensions had risen with Washington over Netanyahu’s planned overhaul of the country’s judiciary, which sparked months of protests.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin were in the region Friday in support of Israel while President Joe Biden also has spoken out against the Hamas attack. America also has sent additional arms to Israel, deployed one aircraft carrier group and plans to send another to discourage a regional escalation as Israel prepares for a possible ground offensive in Gaza.
The U.S. ambassador to China, Nicholas Burns, tweeted on X that “we are shocked by today’s attack on an Israeli diplomat in Beijing” and said the embassy had offered its full support to the Israeli Embassy and the Israeli community in China.
U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, meeting with Chinese leaders in Beijing earlier this week, voiced dissatisfaction over the initial Chinese statement on the deadly Hamas incursion.
Schumer later said he was gratified when a Foreign Ministry spokesperson later added that China is “deeply saddened by the civilian casualties” and “opposes and condemns acts that harm civilians.”
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