January 2016 Tel Aviv Shooting

The attack occurred during a broader wave of uncoordinated terrorist attacks, mostly by lone assailants not directed by any organization.[1] The Israel Security Agency's January 2016 monthly summary counted the Dizengoff Street shooting as the single attack within the Green Line for that month, while recording five Israeli fatalities from terrorism overall during January.[2]

Nashat Milhem had a prior criminal record involving violence. He had spent five years in prison and had been indicted in 2007 for attacking an Israel Defense Forces soldier and attempting to take the soldier's weapon.[3]

At approximately 2:40 p.m. on Friday, January 1, 2016, Milhem arrived on Dizengoff Street in central Tel Aviv carrying a rifle and a Koran.[4] He emerged from the Anis natural-products store at 122 Dizengoff Street, having discarded his mobile phone, then drew his weapon and opened fire on patrons at the nearby Simta pub as well as at other businesses in the area.[5] The Falcon submachine gun used in the attack had been stolen from Milhem's father.[6]

Milhem fired at least 22 bullets in the assault, killing Alon Bakal and Shimon Ruimi and wounding others.[4] Survivor Israel Avitan later described the shooting as lasting approximately 20 seconds; he had followed Ruimi outside after Ruimi went for a cigarette.[7] Milhem left the Koran behind as he fled the scene.[4]

Alon Bakal, 26, was a manager of the Simta bar. He grew up in Karmiel and had moved to Tel Aviv three months before the attack.[7] His cousin Danielle Mor described him as being on the verge of graduating from law school and beginning an internship at a Tel Aviv law firm, and recalled that he had served in the Golani combat brigade and called his mother every morning.[8] His grandmother called him "the model"—a reference not only to his looks but, as Mor wrote, to his good heart and ambition.[8]

Shimon Ruimi, 30, was from Ofakim and was a former member of the Golani Brigade who had gone on to work as a civilian IDF employee.[9] He was among the pub's patrons at the time of the shooting.

The third person killed was Amin Shaaban, 42, a Bedouin-Israeli taxi driver from Lod who was killed by Milhem during his escape from the scene.[9] Shaaban left behind a wife who was pregnant at the time of his death and 12 children.[9] The Israel Security Agency's monthly summary listed two civilians killed and seven injured in the pub shooting, and noted the taxi driver's killing separately as part of the attacker's flight.[2]

After the shooting, Milhem fled on foot and entered a passing taxi driven by Amin Shaaban. He killed Shaaban near the Mandarin Hotel in northern Tel Aviv, drove the taxi himself and abandoned it on Namir Road after having difficulty operating it. He then continued toward the Wadi Ara area by public transportation.[4]

Milhem's mobile phone, which he had discarded before the attack, was found several hours afterward on Reeding Street by a schoolgirl who took it home.[5] After her family saw Milhem's name on the phone on Saturday evening, they connected it to the attack and contacted police. Investigators also searched a Ramat Aviv area where Milhem had previously worked on an apartment renovation.[5] Milhem's father identified his son after security-camera footage was broadcast on television.[10]

Milhem returned to the Arara area following the attack and changed hiding places during the week-long search.[11] The manhunt effectively paralyzed Tel Aviv, with many residents choosing to stay inside their homes for days.[5] There was also public criticism of the police for their handling of the minutes immediately after the shooting and for their failure to publish Milhem's photograph during the search.[11]

Security forces and the Shin Bet investigated whether Milhem had received assistance while evading capture. Investigators reported that he asked associates to obtain ammunition because he was planning further attacks.[4] A small number of associates were allegedly aware of his presence in Arara, with some supplying food, a mobile phone, cigarettes and money, and one relative allegedly helping him move between hiding places.[12] Three people were subsequently indicted over alleged assistance during his concealment.[4]

On Friday, January 8, 2016, at 4:20 p.m.—exactly one week after the attack—Shin Bet and Yamam forces located Milhem in a building in Arara's Aldaharat neighborhood.[11] He left the building, attempted to flee and opened fire on the security forces using the same Falcon submachine gun employed in the attack.[11][6] Security forces returned fire and killed him; there were no casualties among the personnel involved.[11] An initial report placing his death in a mosque in Umm al-Fahm was subsequently found to be inaccurate.[13]

The attack was later placed within a broader wave of attacks by uncoordinated individuals against Israeli civilians.[1] The Palestinian Authority's handling of Milhem's legacy attracted attention: the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs argues that the Palestinian Authority initially included Milhem among those it described as martyrs of the "new intifada," then removed his name and later reinstated it.[14]

The victims were commemorated in public memorial listings and family accounts. Danielle Mor's account of her cousin Alon Bakal captured the human cost starkly: "Out of nowhere, without warning, and in one second, Alon is gone."[8] Amin Shaaban, the taxi driver killed as Milhem fled, was described in a JNS Yom Hazikaron memorial as a man who left behind a pregnant wife and 12 children.[9]

The investigation concluded that Milhem planned and carried out the attack alone, without another person's involvement in the shooting itself.[4] The indictments described his purpose as causing as many Israeli civilian deaths as possible and aiding the enemy—including ISIS—in its war against Israel.[4]

Milhem's lost mobile phone contained videos of himself, religious material described as psychological preparation for an attack and terminology similar to that used by ISIS.[4] Investigators also found religious material used in preparation for the attack and a video expressing hatred toward "enemies of Islam."[15] Evidence of drug use was also found on the phone.[4]

In the first hours after the attack, differing assessments circulated about Milhem's motivations. His family's attorney characterized him as emotionally or mentally unstable and denied that he was an ISIS adherent, while security officials were reported to be increasingly convinced that the shooting was driven by nationalist sentiment.[10] These were early, competing assessments before the investigation reached its conclusions. A family member, Ahmed Milhem, was quoted as saying: "We do not know what the reasons were for Nishat to have committed the shooting attack," and, "We would prefer for him to still be alive, to understand what caused him to kill people like he did."[3]

The finding that Milhem acted alone in the shooting is separate from the allegations that associates assisted him during his subsequent concealment.[4] Published casualty figures also differ. The Israel Security Agency's monthly summary and the State Department's religious-freedom report recorded seven people injured at the bar.[2][15] The State Department's human-rights report recorded eight injured, while a later Ynet retrospective reported six.[1][5]