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Jerusalem terror attack: Arab janitor strangled, stabbed Israeli woman in her home

Israeli investigators say attempted murder of Israeli woman by an east Jerusalem janitor was a terror attack.

By World Israel News Staff

A violent assault on an elderly Israeli woman in her apartment in central Jerusalem was a nationalistically-motivated terror attack, Israeli authorities declared Sunday.

On Sunday afternoon, Israeli police and the Shin Bet internal security agency released a joint statement declaring that the attempted murder of a 74-year-old Jerusalem woman by an Arab janitor was a terror attack, not a mere armed robbery.

The attack occurred on December 19th, when the suspect, a 60-year-old resident of east Jerusalem arrived at the home of his victim, ostensibly to do cleaning and maintenance work.

The suspect, from Jerusalem’s Silwan neighborhood, worked as the janitor for the apartment building where the victim lived. He had performed work for the victim in the past, and was supposed to finish repairs in her apartment when he arrived there on December 19th.

Rather than complete his work, however, the suspect strangled the woman, attempting to murder her.

He then left the apartment, before returning shortly thereafter, when he realized he had forgotten his walking stick in her apartment.

Upon his arrival, the terrorist discovered that his victim had not died in the attack. He found a knife in a drawer in the victim’s apartment and stabbed her repeatedly, with the intention of murdering her.

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Believing the woman to be fatally injured, he stole her jewelry and left her apartment.

The victim, despite her wounds, was able to call her daughter for assistance.

Meanwhile the terrorist sold the stolen goods at an east Jerusalem pawn shop and fled to Samaria.

Within hours, Israeli authorities located the terrorist and arrested him

During his interrogation, investigators ascertained that the suspect had attempted to murder the woman on nationalistic grounds, over his anger regarding the war in Gaza, rather than as part of a planned robbery.

The terrorist was brought before a Jerusalem court Sunday for an extension of his detention, pending the filing of an indictment against him later this week.