Wasim a-Sayed

Wasim a-Sayed was born in 1988 and was a resident of Hebron. Ynet's 2022 account identified him as 34 years old at the time.[2] Before the attacks for which he was ultimately convicted, he had been suspected or convicted of offenses in Israel including vehicle theft, attempted theft, vehicle break-ins, dismantling vehicle parts, unlawful entry, and impersonation.[2]

According to the indictment, a-Sayed joined ISIS and swore loyalty to the organization as early as 2014.[1] Israeli security and prison material described his involvement in Salafi-jihadist activity, overseas jihadist contacts, and alleged plans for attacks—assessments distinct from the later murder convictions.[2] He told investigators that he had decided to murder a Jew because of his identification with Islamic State and that he learned the killing method used against the Kaduris from ISIS videos online.[5]

On January 9, 2019, a-Sayed entered Israel carrying two knives and intending to kill Jews for nationalist and ideological reasons.[6] That day, he followed a teenage girl in Jerusalem's Armon Hanatziv neighborhood and attempted to stab and slash her neck before fleeing when she cried out.[6] N12 dates the subsequent murders of Yehuda Kaduri, 71, and Tamar Kaduri, 68, to the night of February 10–11, 2019.[6] A-Sayed entered their apartment, stabbed Tamar to death and killed Yehuda by slashing his throat.[5] The court later found that a-Sayed identified the couple as Jewish because of the skullcap Yehuda was wearing.[3]

After the killings, a-Sayed washed his hands, ate an apple, watched television, and slept for approximately an hour on the living-room carpet.[3] At dawn, he took money from Yehuda's wallet and several rings, locked the apartment, discarded the key, and left by bus.[3]

In March 2022, a-Sayed stabbed Moldovan foreign worker Ivan Tarnovski to death in Jerusalem and severely wounded Tarnovski's roommate in the same attack.[5]

A-Sayed was held in administrative detention for roughly three years over his ISIS affiliation; authorities did not then connect him to the Kaduri murders, which remained unsolved.[5][3] Attorney General Avichai Mendelblit approved the detention on the basis of intelligence indicating that a-Sayed identified with Islamic State ideology and posed a security threat. He was released about one week before Tarnovski's murder.[5]

On the night Tarnovski was killed, Border Police officers stopped a-Sayed in Jerusalem's Neve Yaakov area and found a knife in his bag.[5] Forensic examination found blood from two foreign workers on the knife, and the Shin Bet determined that it was also the knife used in the Kaduri murders.[5] A search of family property in Hebron uncovered a storage room containing Islamic State religious texts and a large backpack matching one associated with the Kaduri crime.[5] The backpack contained shoes that forensic testing linked to a footprint at that crime scene; blood from Yehuda Kaduri and a-Sayed's DNA were also found on a shoe.[5][2]

The investigation into the Kaduri case had been extensive. Investigators obtained testimony from around 600 witnesses and detained and questioned approximately 20 people, including the Kaduris' children, who were at one point suspected.[5] DNA retrieved from a footprint at the scene had not identified a suspect because the profile was not in the system.[5] Forensic and video evidence gathered after a-Sayed's 2022 arrest finally connected him to the earlier murders, before his confession.[2]

After his 2022 arrest, a-Sayed confessed to the Kaduri and Tarnovski murders and the attempted killings of Hadar Bezalel and Tarnovski's roommate.[5] The court rejected his subsequent claim that his statements had not been given voluntarily.[7]

In September 2024, the Jerusalem District Court convicted a-Sayed of murdering Yehuda Kaduri, Tamar Kaduri, and Ivan Tarnovski; two counts of attempted murder; and active membership in ISIS.[3] The verdict rested on his confessions and crime-scene reconstructions, as well as DNA evidence found on his clothing and shoes.[7][6] The presiding judge found that a-Sayed had chosen Jewish victims for religious, nationalist, and ideological reasons as part of his ISIS membership, and that he recognized the Kaduris as Jewish because of Yehuda's skullcap.[3] At sentencing, the court said the victims were attacked solely because they were Jewish or were believed to be Jewish.[4]

In February 2025, the Jerusalem District Court sentenced a-Sayed to three life sentences plus an additional 40 years in prison.[4] The court characterized the crimes as committed under circumstances "exceptional in their severity" and ruled that he could not be released on grounds connected to management of the state's foreign relations or security, including in a future hostage deal.[4] Police concluded that a-Sayed had acted alone in the attacks.[5]

Contemporary reports contain discrepancies reflecting the different stages of the investigation and prosecution. The 2024 verdict recorded two attempted-murder convictions. Israel Hayom's 2022 account referred in one passage to attempted murders involving Hadar Bezalel and two additional foreign workers, but later identified Bezalel and Tarnovski's roommate as the attempted-murder victims to whom a-Sayed confessed.[5][3]

The chronology also differs. N12 dates the attempted attack on the girl to January 9, 2019, and the Kaduri murders to February 10–11.[6] The Jerusalem Post instead reported that a-Sayed entered Israel on January 8 and placed the attacks in the same month, while Ynet's verdict account said the indictment dated the Kaduri murders to January 9.[1][3]

Names vary in transliteration. Sources render the defendant's name as Wasim a-Sayed, Waseem Asa'id, or Asaid, while the Moldovan victim's surname appears as Tarnovski and Tirwanski.[5][7] These reporting inconsistencies do not alter the final court findings that a-Sayed committed three murders and two attempted murders.