Palestinian terrorist who stabbed girl entered Israel with permit

Contrary to earlier reports, the terrorist who seriously wounded a teenager two weeks ago had received a work permit for a day but never went home.

By: Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

Nur A-Din Shinawi, the terrorist from Jenin who stabbed and seriously wounded a Jewish high school senior two weeks ago in Afula, had received a one-day work permit three months ago, in contrast to previous reports that he had managed to illegally infiltrate into the country.

Investigators believe he simply stayed on illegally in Israel until carrying out his attack, according to a report Tuesday on the Hakol Hayehudi website.

The District Coordination and Liaison office, which is in charge of giving out work permits to residents of the Palestinian Authority (PA), told the website that 20-year-old Nur A-Din Shinawi received a day permit back in March. After the attack, the office added, they froze all work permits for the terrorist’s first- and second-degree relatives.

There are 85,000 PA Arabs who currently have permission to work in Israel, according to Prof. Shlomo Mor Yosef, director of Israel’s Population and Immigration Authority. Yet the phenomenon of such workers instigating murderous assaults either on Jewish colleagues or strangers is not a new one.

In one of the deadliest recent attacks, Nimer Jamal, a father of four from Beit Surik, last September shot dead a border policeman and two civilian guards and wounded another man at the entrance to the village of Har Adar, where he had permission to work.

In 2016, Saadi Ali Abu Hammad repeatedly axed a security guard he knew at the Ma’ale Adumim mall, where they were both employed; the victim managed to survive. A resident of Al-Eizariya, the assailant had a special permit allowing him to stay in Israel overnight due to his job.

Asked by Hakol Hayehudi for the Minister of Justice’s reaction to the fact that such attacks by Palestinian workers are not a unique occurrence, Ayelet Shaked’s office replied, “Of course, in her opinion, it is necessary to conduct an examination of every person who receives a work visa regarding how dangerous he might be, as well as his [possible] participation in attacks against Israeli citizens.”

Shinawi knifed his victim, 18-year-old Shuva Malka, nine times before fleeing the scene. Malka was on her way to school from her hometown of Migdal HaEmek to take a matriculation exam. Her condition was very serious when she was first brought to the hospital, but she has since stabilized and is on the slow road to recovery.

The terrorist was caught a few hours after the attack through the combined efforts of civilians who tracked him down and the police. He confessed that the attack was nationalistically motivated.