Indictment: Killer of Petah Tikva Rabbi Considered Stabbing More Jews Immediately After Attack
The terrorist who killed a rabbi in the central Israel town of Petah Tikva on August 26 considered stabbing more...
The late Shai Ohayon, who was killed in a suspected stabbing attack in Petah Tikva, Israel, Aug. 26, 2020.
The terrorist who killed a rabbi in the central Israel town of Petah Tikva on August 26 considered stabbing more Jewish victims immediately after the attack, the newly-filed indictment against him states.
According to Israeli news website N12, Khalil Abd al-Khaliq Dweikat was formally indicted Monday for the aggravated murder of Rabbi Shai Ohayon at Segula Junction in Petah Tikva.
Dweikat, who confessed to the attack and reconstructed it for the police and the Shin Bet, was also charged with illegal possession of a knife in the commission of a terrorist act.
The indictment states that Dweikat, who was working at a Petah Tikva construction site, decided to kill Jews “for Palestine, the Palestinian people, the al-Aqsa Mosque, and Allah.”
On the day of the attack, says the indictment, “the defendant took a knife that was in the kitchen of the construction site, put it in his pants pocket, and left the site. After searching for about an hour for a suitable victim and opportunity to carry out the attack, the defendant noticed the late Rabbi Shai Ohayon.”
“The defendant pulled the knife out of his pants pocket and stabbed the deceased three times,” the indictment continues. “Ohayon called for help at this point, collapsed, and began to bleed. At this point a passerby noticed what was happening and threw an object at the defendant in an attempt to help the deceased.”
Dweikat then “returned the knife stained with the deceased’s blood to his pants pocket, and began to walk away from the scene.”
Before his arrest shortly after, the indictment says, the terrorist “considered the possibility of stabbing other Jewish Israelis in a similar manner.”
The prosecution also stressed that Dweikat “did not express any empathy, remorse, or sorrow in relation to the victim or his family members.”