‘It looks like murder’: Otzma Yehudit party demands Arab driver be investigated in death of mother, baby

The right-wing party called on police to investigate whether the driver was acting out of ‘nationalist’ motives.

By World Israel News Staff

The right-wing Otzma Yehudit party called for police to investigate the motives of the Arab driver, 19, who was responsible for the death of Tzipi Rimmel, 34, and her three-month-old daughter, Noam Rachel, on Saturday evening in a car accident.

The party said it had received information from witnesses at the scene that the Arab driver made no effort to stop as he drove full speed into the Rimmel family’s car as it stood at a red light, forcing their car into the one in front of it. Four cars in total were involved in the accident.

Tzipi’s 12-year-old son, Iti , was critically injured and is reported to be fighting for his life. The husband, Ephraim, was also seriously injured.

The Rimmels are from Neve Tzuf, a Jewish town in Binyamin, which is in Samaria. According to Arutz7, they are pillars of the community.

“We urge the police to conduct an in-depth investigation into the motives of the offending driver and examine whether there weren’t nationalist motives in his reckless driving and if he had any intentions of taking the opportunity of vehicles waiting at the junction for a green light to kill Jews,” Otzma Yehudit said.

The leader of Otzma Yehudit, Itamar Ben Gvir, tweeted: “This is not an ‘accident.’ It looks like murder!”

Arab terrorists have carried out ramming attacks in the past. In August, a Palestinian driver rammed his car into two Israeli teens in the Gush Etzion region of Judea, south of Jerusalem.