Suspected Palestinian killer in gruesome murder of Jewish teen refuses to confess

Despite giving details of the killing to investigators earlier, the suspect refused to confess on Sunday in a court hearing.

By World Israel News Staff

Arafat Irfaiya refused to confess to the killing of Jewish teenager Ori Ansbacher during a hearing in the Jerusalem District Court on Sunday.

This, despite the fact that his defense attorney Riyad Sawad told the judge the defendant confessed to the act. And Irfaiya had given details about the attack to Israeli authorities.

Irfaiya was arrested for the killing of Ansbacher in the Ein Yael area outside Jerusalem in February.

Irfaiya told investigators that he did not plan much of the attack in advance aside from purchasing a skullcap so he could slip into Israel undetected, Israeli media reported in March.

“I bought the yarmulke two weeks earlier, so I could enter Israel without being suspected or identified as an illegal resident,” Irfaiya reportedly told investigators, adding that he did not tell anyone else of his plans in advance.

“I left my home to kill a Jew due to the occupation and treatment of Arabs at checkpoints,” he reportedly said.

According to the report, Irfaiya told investigators he met Ansbacher, 19, by chance in a forested area close to Jerusalem where she was sitting on a rock, writing in a notebook.

Irfaiya reportedly said he stabbed Ansbacher three times and dragged her as she tried to resist. He then stabbed her further, before gagging her with her scarf and binding her hands.

The suspect said that after the attack, he took Ansbacher’s cellphone and destroyed the memory card.

At that point, Irfaiya took a taxi, which eventually took him to the Ramallah area. Nothing about his escape route was planned, he said. After he hid the knife, which was later found among bags of cement near the mosque in which he was hiding, he was apprehended by Israeli counterterrorism officers.

The court will hold another hearing on January 8.

Ori Ansbacher