Axe-Murderer Caught

Hillel Fendel Axe-Murderer Caught

It has now been released for publication that the axe-wielding murderer of 13-year-old Shlomo Nativ in Bat Ayin just over two weeks ago was arrested only a few days later. The terrorist, Mustafa Teet, 26, of an Arab village near Gush Etzion, has confessed to the murder and to the wounding of 7-year-old Yair Gamliel. He said he wished to die as a “shahid,” a holy martyr.

On Thursday, April 9, Teet entered the Jewish town of Bat Ayin in Gush Etzion. He approached a group of children who were playing outside, and proceeded to attack them with an axe. Shlomo barely managed to stagger back home, where he died of his wounds, while the terrorist continued to attack one other child and attempt to do the same to a third. A local man tried to take the axe from the terrorist, suffering wounds in the process, but the terrorist escaped.

Five days later, Shabak (General Security Service) agents apprehended him.

Yair Gamliel, wounded in the attack, is the son of Ofer Gamliel, who is serving a harsh 15-year-sentence for involvement in an attempted bombing of an Arab girls’ school. He has not been granted many of the privileges, including vacation rights, given to other prisoners, and was barely allowed to visit his wounded son. Upon hearing the news of the attack, he was taken in leg-cuffs to the hospital to see him.

The terrorist, though he expected to die in the attack, continued to live his life normally afterwards. A will he wrote before the attack is part of the evidence against him.

Palestinian terrorism targeting the Jews of Judea and Samaria has been on an upswing over the past three weeks. Recent incidents include, in addition to the murder in Bat Ayin:

* The running-over of two policemen at the Hizme checkpoint north of Jerusalem;

* the attempt to throw a Molotov cocktail at Beit El (an incident that ended with the death of one terrorist and the escape of two others, including one who was wounded);

* a bomb placed outside Dolev;

* the arrest of an attempted infiltrator into Elon Moreh;

* the arrest of a terrorist who entered a Jewish home in Hevron