Neriya Leiter, an Israel Defense Forces reservist and son of Israeli Ambassador to the United States Yechiel Leiter, underwent hours of brain surgery Wednesday after being critically wounded in a vehicle-ramming terror attack on Route 443 in the West Bank.
Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem said Wednesday night that after undergoing lifesaving procedures in its trauma unit, Leiter underwent complex brain surgery lasting several hours along with additional treatments.
“His condition remains extremely critical and his life is in danger,” the hospital said in a statement.
The attack occurred at the Maccabim, or Bell, checkpoint near Modi’in, about 26 miles northwest of Jerusalem. Police said the assailant drove toward a Judea and Samaria District police vehicle and struck Leiter, seriously wounding him. The IDF said a reserve soldier was severely injured in the ramming attack and evacuated for medical treatment. Security forces shot and killed the attacker, whom KAN Channel 11 in Israel identified as Mahmoud Muhammad Mahmoud Suleiman, 29, from the nearby village of Beit Ur al-Thaqa.
Earlier reports said Leiter was unconscious when taken to Shaare Zedek, where he received lifesaving treatment before being sedated and ventilated.
Ambassador Leiter departed the United States for Israel after learning of his son’s condition. He was scheduled to accompany Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for his upcoming address at the United Nations on Sept. 24 in New York. Leiter has served as Israel’s Ambassador to the U.S. since January 27, 2025.
“I am grateful to the IDF, to the medical team at Shaare Zedek who are now fighting to save the life of Neriya Dov ben Chana, and for the prayers of the people of Israel,” Leiter said on X three hours after the attack. “I believe in the power of prayer, and I believe that when the people of Israel unite, miracles happen. Neriya needs a miracle.”
Neriya is the younger brother of Maj. (res.) Moshe Yedidya Leiter, who was killed fighting in Gaza in November 2023. Moshe served as a company commander in the 551st Brigade’s 697th Battalion.
On Aug. 30, less than a month before Wednesday’s attack, Ambassador Leiter spoke with the Journal in Los Angeles. While recounting a 2025 meeting with the editorial board of The New York Times, Leiter mentioned that the meeting took place on Nov. 10. He said the date marked 50 years since the 1975 United Nations resolution equating Zionism with racism. He then added, “It’s also the date my son was killed.”
Earlier that day, Leiter appeared on a panel at the Jewish American Summit in Los Angeles, where he spoke at greater length about Moshe.
“[Moshe] was my oldest of eight children. He was my best friend. He was 39,” Leiter said during the panel. “He had spent 15 years in special ops of the Air Force. He was a decorated officer, and they went to med school at the age of 33. He got his white jacket two months before the war, August of 23, and he was supposed to start his rounds in the hospital on October 8, [2023].”
Leiter also spoke about Israelis who entered the fighting after Oct. 7.
“Normal people run away from fire. This generation of Jews ran into fire,” Leiter said. “Nobody told them. Nobody gave them orders. Their WhatsApps went off at 6:30 in the morning. They grabbed their personal weapons, they hopped into their personal cars and went sailing into danger and saved the country when we had a blackout.”
In his second post to X following the attack on Wednesday, Leiter wrote, “Neriya continued to serve in the reserves after losing his older brother, Moshe Yedidya Leiter, of blessed memory. Since October 7th, he has served hundreds of days in the reserves on multiple fronts. Palestinian terrorism seeks to uproot the people of Israel from their land. They choose death – we choose life.”
