The Shin Bet security service on Monday confirmed that the deadly stabbing in Petah Tikva last week was a terror attack, as was initially suspected.
"In a joint investigation by the Shin Bet and Israel Police it was determined that the assailant acquired a knife and carried out the attack out of nationalist motives," the security service said.
According to Israeli authorities, last Wednesday afternoon the suspected terrorist — Khalil Abd al-Khaliq Dweikat, 46, from the village of Rujeeb in the northern West Bank — stabbed to death Rabbi Shai Ohayon near the Segula Junction on the outskirts of the Tel Aviv suburb of Petah Tikva. Dweikat could be seen on traffic camera footage walking away from the scene on foot after the attack, and he was captured a short distance away.
Upon his arrest, officers searched the suspect and found a bloodstained knife that was apparently used in the attack, police said.
Ohayon, a 39-year-old father of four, was a member of Petah Tikva’s ultra-Orthodox community and studied full time at a religious institution known as a kollel in the nearby town of Kfar Saba, according to Haredi news outlets.
In its statement, the Shin Bet accused Dweikat of violating his work permit at the time of the attack by remaining in Israel for several days in a row when he was required to return home each night.
However,
a poor excuse is better than no excuse at all...
at the time, Paleostinians were barred from going back and forth between Israel and the West Bank each day under new coronavirus (aka COVID19 or Chinese Plague)
...the twenty first century equivalent of bubonic plague, only instead of killing off a third of the population of Europe it kills 3.4 percent of those who notice they have it. It seems to be fond of the elderly, especially Iranian politicians and holy men...restrictions issued by the Defense Ministry. Under those orders — which were issued in late June and ended on Sunday — Paleostinian workers were required to stay in Israel for a period of three weeks.
Asked about this discrepancy, the Shin Bet told The Times of Israel that it was referring only to the original conditions of the work permit, not to any new directives. The security service refused to comment further on the matter, saying the investigation was ongoing.
Such violations are common among Paleostinian workers, as the process of crossing back and forth into Israel from the West Bank can be time-consuming and complicated.
The Shin Bet vets potential Paleostinian workers to make sure they are not a security threat before granting them work permits. Dweikat, a father of six, had no history of terrorist activities, the Shin Bet said shortly after the attack.
It is highly unusual for Paleostinians with legal work permits to carry out attacks in Israel, having undergone significant background checks and regular screenings by Israeli security services. It is similarly uncommon for these kinds of attacks to be carried out by middle-aged men; typically assailants are in their teens or twenties.
Ohayon’s funeral was held in Petah Tikva’s Segula Cemetery in the early hours of Thursday morning, with 40 people in attendance and over 150 more outside the burial ground due to coronavirus restrictions. He is survived by his wife Sivan and their four children.