Murder of Itamar Ben-Gal

Rabbi Itamar Ben-Gal, 29, lived in Har Bracha, a community in Samaria in the West Bank — known by its original, indigenous Jewish name of Judea and Samaria — with his wife Miriam and their four children.[1] He worked as a rabbi and teacher, serving as an educator at the Bnei Akiva yeshiva in Giv'at Shmuel.[1][2] A student described him as an admirable educator who "always helped everyone."[1]

The killing took place less than a month after the January 9, 2018, murder of Rabbi Raziel Shevach in the same region.[3] A contemporaneous report interpreted Assi's Facebook activity as indicating that his views had become radicalized in the weeks following U.S. President Donald Trump's late-2017 declaration concerning Jerusalem, although this was an interpretation of social-media posts rather than a court finding.[4]

On February 5, 2018, Ben-Gal was waiting at a hitchhiking stop near the Ariel Junction when Abed al-Karim Adel Assi approached him from behind and stabbed him in the chest and abdomen with a knife.[1][5] Ben-Gal ran toward a nearby bus seeking help, struck its window, and collapsed.[2] Magen David Adom paramedics and an IDF medical force attempted to resuscitate him at the scene. He was evacuated in critical condition to Beilinson Hospital at the Rabin Medical Center in Petah Tikva, where he was pronounced dead.[1]

Assi fled immediately after the attack. An off-duty IDF officer pursued him and struck him with a vehicle, but Assi got up and escaped in another vehicle to a Palestinian village.[6] He left behind a bag containing clothing and his Israeli identity card.[1] He also discarded the knife and changed hiding places multiple times in the weeks that followed.[6]

According to the indictment, Assi decided on February 5 to carry out a nationally and ideologically motivated attack after an altercation with IDF soldiers at the Ariel Junction. He traveled to Nablus, purchased two knives measuring approximately 27 centimeters each, returned to the junction, identified Ben-Gal as Jewish from his clothing and kippa, and stabbed him "with great force" in the chest and abdomen. The indictment stated that Assi selected Ben-Gal because of his appearance as a Jew.[5] Ynet separately reported that Assi had also visited the hitchhiking stop the previous day, insulted soldiers there, and was released after they saw that he held an Israeli identity card.[5]

A month-long manhunt followed the attack. On March 18, 2018, the Shin Bet, the Yamam counterterrorism unit, and IDF soldiers from the Samaria Territorial Brigade, including troops from Battalion 90, raided a house north of Nablus's Old City in a predawn operation.[6] Assi sustained a minor injury during his arrest, received medical treatment, and was transferred for Shin Bet interrogation. Several Palestinians accused of helping him hide were also detained.[6]

Reports described Assi as a 19-year-old Israeli Arab who held an Israeli identity card and was the son of an Israeli mother and a Palestinian father from Nablus. He had previously lived in Jaffa and stayed at Shanti Home, an organization serving at-risk youth, as well as at other shelters.[1][6]

On March 28, 2018, Assi was charged in Central District Court in connection with the killing.[3] The indictment stated that he admitted during Shin Bet and police interrogations to the acts attributed to him and reenacted the killing for investigators. Investigators also found that he had posted on Facebook claiming responsibility for the murder.[5]

The Lod District Court convicted Assi in July 2019 of aggravated murder after he admitted to the acts. On November 24, 2019, the court sentenced him to life in prison.[7] In its ruling, the court emphasized the advance planning, purchase of two knives, and selection of Ben-Gal because he appeared Jewish.[7]

The court also ordered Assi to pay 258,000 shekels in compensation to Ben-Gal's children. At sentencing, Assi stated: "I did it because I don't receive medication; I did it with a clear mind." Ben-Gal's parents asked the court to impose the maximum punishment and requested that Assi never be included in a future prisoner-release deal.[7]

Ben-Gal's funeral was held in Har Bracha, where he had lived with his family, the day after the attack.[1] Following Assi's arrest, his widow, Miriam, said the capture would not bring her husband back or prevent another terrorist from destroying another family's life. She called on the Israeli government to authorize construction of 800 housing units in Har Bracha, describing the expansion as the family's consolation and the "real answer" to the murder.[6]

The U.S. Department of State's 2018 International Religious Freedom Report discussed Ben-Gal's killing alongside the January 9 murder of Rabbi Raziel Shevach. It reported that following the two attacks, settlers from neighboring areas threw stones at Palestinian vehicles and houses, destroyed olive orchards, sprayed anti-Palestinian graffiti, and blocked road access to Nablus.[3] An eighth-grade student who had known Ben-Gal remembered him as "a good educator and teacher" who "always helped everyone" and was "an admirable figure."[1]

Sources transliterate the assailant's name in several forms. Ynetnews uses "Abed al-Karim Adel Assi," while the State Department and Hebrew-language Ynet reports use forms rendered as "Abed al-Hakim Asi" or "Abd al-Hakim Asi."[3][1] Accounts also describe the site as the Ariel Junction bus stop, a hitchhiking stop, or a bus stop near Ariel, referring to the same reported location.[3][2] Israeli reports cited here classify the stabbing as a terrorist attack, while the State Department passage describes the incident as a fatal stabbing and records the subsequent criminal charge.[3][7]