A 51 year-old Arab resident of Jerusalem was stabbed to death on Jerusalem’s Shmuel Hanavi Street this morning.
The murder weapon, a knife, was found next to the body. Police suspect that the murder was committed by a Jew out of nationalistic motives.
This was the sixth incident in a series of stabbings on Arabs recently in Jerusalem’s Mea She’arim district, with each attack apparently committed for nationalistic motives.
Jerusalem’s police chief, Commander Yair Yitzhaki warned that this stabbing may pave the way for a dangerous, vicious circle of bloodshed.
In his opinion, this morning’s murder was an act of revenge for the murder of yeshiva student Haim Karman in the Old City’s Moslem Quarter a week ago, and that the assailant acts in response to attacks on Jews.
Yitzhaki estimated that a lone individual, and not a new Jewish underground, is responsible for the attacks.
Jerusalem mayor, Ehud Olmert, condemned the killing and appealed to police to track down the murderer. Olmert emphasized that it is essential to crack down on murderers of Arabs, exactly in the same way as on murderers of Jews.
Published by Israel's Business Arena May 13, 1998