'Neria needs a miracle': Israel's US ambassador flies home after his son is critically wounded in West Bank car-ramming attack
From the Newshound archive · first published 24 September 2026 · last updated 25 September 2026.
Neria Leiter, an IDF reservist whose father is Israel's US ambassador, is fighting for his life after a Palestinian attacker rammed a car into a West Bank checkpoint, with Ambassador Yechiel Leiter saying his son "needs…A checkpoint near the illegal settlement of Beit Horon in the West Bank. Neria Leiter's pregnant sister went into labour at the same Jerusalem hospital where he underwent emergency brain surgery after the attack.
Neria Leiter, 38, an IDF reservist and son of Israeli Ambassador to the US Yechiel Leiter, underwent emergency brain surgery at Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem after a Palestinian attacker rammed a vehicle into a checkpoint on Route 443 near Beit Horon. Trauma chief Dr. Alon Schwartz said Neria's condition had stabilised but his life remained in danger. Ambassador Leiter abandoned plans to accompany Netanyahu to the UN General Assembly and flew to Israel to be with his son. The attacker, identified as Mahmoud Suleiman, 29, from Beit Ur al-Tahta, was shot dead at the scene.
Neria's elder brother, Moshe Yedidya Leiter, was killed in Gaza in November 2023 — the family's SECOND devastating loss since October 7.
Netanyahu visited the Leiter family at the hospital before departing for New York; US Ambassador Mike Huckabee called it a deliberate attempt by 'a Palestinian terrorist to murder IDF soldiers.'
Neria, a dual American-Israeli citizen, had served hundreds of reserve days on multiple fronts since October 7, continuing after his brother's death.
