Four people were killed in an attack on Tuesday (22) in Beersheba, southern Israel. The episode, one of the deadliest of its kind in recent years in the country, was the third against Jewish citizens in less than a week.
The attack took place in at least three moments, according to Peretz Amar, a spokesman for the local police.
The author ran over and killed a cyclist in front of a gas station and, when getting out of the car, already inside the establishment, stabbed a woman, who also died. He then drove to an outdoor mall and attacked three more women with the knife, killing one of them. Returning to the car, he hit another car at a roundabout, got out and stabbed a man to death.
Two pedestrians tried to calm the man, but they were also attacked – videos posted on social media show this moment. One of them, who was armed, then fired, killing the attacker.
The death toll (three women and one man) is the highest in single attacks carried out against Jewish citizens since at least 2017. Two people were injured.
According to Reuters, the man was not named, but was identified as an Israeli of Arab origin, a former high school teacher who was arrested for alleged links with the Islamic State.
Representatives of Islamic organizations such as Hamas even praised the action, although none of them — not even IS — claimed responsibility. Politicians such as Mansour Abbas, leader of the United Arab List (Ra’am), a party that represents the Arab minority and is part of the ruling coalition, criticized the attack.
“Arab citizens are law-abiding and denounce anyone who uses violence against others. Ra’am urges everyone to protect the delicate social fabric, show responsibility and promote tolerant discourse in this difficult time,” he wrote on social media.
The United States also condemned what the State Department called an “abominable terrorist attack”. In a statement, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said security forces were on “maximum surveillance” after the attack.
The politician was out of Israel on Tuesday, on a trip to meet with the leaders of Egypt and the United Arab Emirates. The three did not explain in detail what was discussed at the meeting, but analysts told The New Yotk Times that security in East Jerusalem and the West Bank was on the agenda.
Tuesday’s case follows similar episodes in recent weeks. On Saturday (19), a Jewish man was stabbed while running through a residential neighborhood in Jerusalem; a day later, another knife attack wounded two Israeli police officers in the eastern part of the city.
Beersheba is in southern Israel and generally does not suffer from the direct effects of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict — at least since 2015 no such incident has been reported in the city.
That spate of recent attacks has heightened fears of violence in April — when the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and the Jewish holidays of Passover and the Christian Passover coincide. Ramadan-related tensions, for example, sparked conflict in the Gaza Strip in May last year.
