This page is subject to the extended confirmed restriction related to the Arab-Israeli conflict.On 6 March 2008, a lone Palestinian gunman shot multiple students at the Mercaz HaRav yeshiva, a religious school in West Jerusalem.

The attacker was stopped by long-time Mercaz HaRav student Yitzhak Dadon and off-duty Israel Defense Forces Captain David Shapira, who killed the perpetrator with their personal firearms.

The attacker, Alaa Abu Dheim, age 26, from the Arab neighborhood of Jabel Mukaber in East Jerusalem, who, according to his family, worked as a driver for a private company that made deliveries to the yeshiva,[10] entered the building carrying a box concealing an AKM along with several magazines, later firing as many as 500–600 rounds.

Immediately after the police arrived, Captain David Shapira, a graduate of the yeshiva and an officer in the Israel Defense Forces who lived nearby but was not on duty at the time, arrived at the scene with his M-16 rifle, while Yitzhak Dadon, a yeshiva student who had a gun, positioned himself on the roof of a nearby building.

Sixteen minutes after the shooting began, Dheim emerged from the library, and Dadon and Shapira opened fire, killing him.

[17] Although Abu Dhaim left behind no statement describing his motive, his sister, Iman Abu Dhaim, told the Associated Press that he had been radicalized by the violence in Gaza, where 126 Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces from Wednesday through Monday,[10] in response to rocket fire from Palestinian terrorist groups based in Gaza.

[22] Olmert also said that the Mercaz Harav yeshiva had produced, "the finest soldiers for many generations; people who have realized the Zionist faith.

"[23] A spokesman for Olmert said Israel would act after proper investigation and deliberation, and he condemned those, like Hamas, who celebrated the killings with parades in Gaza.

[26] A Channel 1 report that three alumni of the yeshiva were planning a revenge attack against a senior Arab official affiliated with a mosque on Jerusalem's Temple Mount, allegedly with permission from several rabbis, was dismissed by Public Security Minister Avi Dichter and the Shin Bet as baseless following their investigation.

"[32] On 17 March, hundreds of activists attacked Arab homes in the east Jerusalem neighborhood Jebl Mukaber in an attempt to raze the house of the family of the gunman.

[33] At an event one month after the attack, former Sephardi Chief Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu told some 1,000 attendants that in retribution for the massacre the government should establish a yeshiva or Jewish township for every one of the lives lost that evening.

[34]The Israeli human rights group B'Tselem released a statement condemning the attack which read: "B'Tselem severely condemns the Palestinian terror attack that took place in a yeshiva (religious school) in Jerusalem, in which 8 Israeli civilians, including 4 minors were killed and many other persons were injured.

The paper prominently placed a picture of the gunman on the front page, with the caption, "The Martyr Alaa Abu Dheim".

Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri stated that "This heroic attack in Jerusalem is a normal response to the crimes of the occupier and its murder of civilians".

According to The New York Times, the pollster posited in his own words that recent Israeli actions had "led to despair and rage among average Palestinians who thirst for revenge", including the death of 130 people as a result of attacks on Gaza, the killing of four militants in an undercover operation in Bethlehem and plans to expand several Israeli settlements in the West Bank.