Shin Bet catches terrorist who stabbed to death Israeli father of 4

The Israeli intelligence service tracked down and arrested the terrorist who killed a young father at the beginning of the year.

By: TPS

Abed Alkarim Adel Assi, the 19 year-old Arab-Israeli terrorist who murdered Rabbi Itamar Ben-Gal outside of Ariel on February 5 was arrested in the early hours of Sunday morning after a weeks-long manhunt, the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) said in a statement.

The Shin Bet said Adel Assi had been apprehended in the Palestinian city of Nablus in a joint operation involving the domestic security agency, Israeli Police special forces and the IDF.

Several other persons suspected of helping Adel Assi evade security forces were also arrested and taken in for questioning.

Adel Assi stabbed Ben-Gal, 29-year-old father of four, and a resident of the community of Har Bracha south of Nablus, in the chest at a bus stop outside of Ariel, fatally wounding him.

Adel Assi was born to a Palestinian father and an Arab-Israeli mother from Haifa, entitling him to Israeli citizenship. He is well known to Israeli welfare services, having spent much of his adolescence on the streets. In 2016, Assi arrived at Beit HaShanti, a shelter for youth at risk in Tel Aviv. He spent several weeks living on and off at the shelter, but eventually left following disagreements with staff over his frequent visits to his father in Nablus, where they believed he was being taken advantage of and radicalized by hostile elements.

Miriam Ben Gal, the widow of Rabbi Itamar Ben-Gal, referred to the arrest saying the only answer to terror is building in Judea and Samaria.

“[The arrest] will not bring my husband back home and will not prevent another terrorist from getting up and murdering again, destroying another family. The only thing that will prevent another murder is building. The answer to the murder is building another city. I do not understand why the prime minister is waiting. ” she said