Israeli forces were successful in killing the second terrorist involved in the murder of Rabbi Raziel Shevach.
By: Aryeh Savir, World Israel News
A Special Forces police unit on Tuesday morning was successful in locating and eliminating Ahmad Nasr Jarar, a Hamas terrorist who commanded the cell that murdered Rabbi Raziel Shevach.
The police stated that during an attempt to arrest him in the Palestinian village of Yamoun, Jarar emerged from the building he was hiding in armed with a gun. The forces shot and killed him. He was found to be carrying an M-16 assault rifle and a bag filled with explosive charges.
No Israelis were wounded in the operation.
A Shin Bet (Israel’s Security Agency) investigation indicates that the terror cell was involved in other attempted terror attacks and was in the process of planning new ones.
Other cell members are in custody, and the court has placed a gag order on all other details regarding the investigation.
Tuesday morning’s incident was the culmination of a month-long intensive investigation carried out by Israel’s combined security forces.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the security forces for the “determined and complex operation.”
“Several days ago I told Rabbi Raziel Shevach’s widow that we would catch the murderers and last night the mission was completed,” he stated.
“The security forces will catch whoever tries to attack Israeli citizens and we will deal with them to the fullest extent of the law. So it will be with the murderers of Rabbi Itamar Ben-Gal,” he added, referring to an Israeli father of four who was stabbed to death on Monday outside of Ariel.
Minister of Defense Avigdor Liberman stated that “the score has been settled.”
He praised the security forces for their successful operation.
“It was clear that it was only a question of time until we hit the commander of the cell which murdered Rabbi Raziel Shevach,” he stated, expressing confidence that Israel would shortly capture the terrorist who murdered Ben-Gal.
The IDF announced Tuesday that they had made significant progress in the manhunt for that terrorist, an Israeli Arab, but gave no further details.
Jarar was one of the terrorists who carried out a shooting attack near Havat Gilad in Samaria in January, during which Shevach, a 35-year-old father of six, was murdered.
Ahmed Isma’il Muhammad Jarar, another one of the cell members, was killed a week and a half later during an exchange of fire between Special Forces and the terrorists hiding in a building in Jenin. Two Israeli policemen were wounded in the gun battle.
During the operation last month, the Israeli security forces destroyed three buildings owned by the Jarar clan.
The two Jarars were cousins.
Members of the Jarar clan are known Hamas supporters. Ahmad Nasr Jarar was the son of Nasr Khaled Ibrahim Jarar, who was a senior commander in Hamas’ military-terrorist wing.
The elder Jarar was one of the senior Hamas commanders in the battle waged in Jenin during Operation Defensive Shield. He was subsequently killed on August 14, 2002, in a clash with IDF forces in Tubas.