Profiling an ‘economic terror attack’

The murderous rampage of Itamar Alon in a bank in Beersheba, allegedly for being denied a line of credit, has the Hebrew press asking a lot of questions but not finding a lot of answers.

The various front-page headlines Tuesday show the slightly different ways that the papers are characterizing the attack. Yedioth Ahronoth’s headline reads, “A crazy spree at the bank,” while Israel Hayom uses the simple, “Massacre at the bank.” Haaretz hints at a possible motive in its headline, “Four dead in a vendetta in a southern bank,” and Maariv tries to layer another dimension on the attack with its headline, “Four dead in an economic terror attack.”

The coverage focuses on three aspects: the victims, the shooter, and the motive.

Yedioth’s top story is a first-person account by Miriam Cohen, who was held hostage by Itamar Alon. Cohen describes the frightening experience, including how she was able to briefly call the police. “Silently I took the phone and called the police. I was only able to say, ‘I’m calling from Bank Hapoalim. There is shooting’ — suddenly I saw a man approaching with a handgun.”

She also details the final moments of the ordeal when Alon forced her into the bathroom and ordered her to turn around, with her back towards him. “Suddenly I heard a shot. I froze. I saw that I wasn’t hurt but I feared that if I didn’t use my strength the murderer would try to kill me. I turned to the door and saw his face was full of blood. I opened the door and ran out.”

Israel Hayom quotes from an interview Cohen gave on Channel 10 news. Reflecting on her survival, she said, “Thank God, a miracle happened to me. It’s a shame this miracle did not happen for people who work with me and the people who were killed there.”

Israel Hayom also provides a profile of the bank manager who was killed in the attack. Avner Cohen had just been promoted to that position a week earlier. His aunt told the paper that aside from recently celebrating a bar mitzva for his middle son, “he and his family lived for three years in the United States but recently returned at his mother’s request. He should have stayed there.”

Israel Hayom columnist Hezi Sternlicht finds a link between the shooting incident and calls for violence by social activists. “We are seeing too many violent protests, too many people speaking in favor of violence, arguing that ‘it is the only thing that can get across'” a message.

Sternlicht calls for the rhetoric to be toned down in order to prevent future tragedies.

Focusing on the killer

Maariv discusses the confusion regarding how Itamar Alon came to embark upon such a violent attack. Alon was an officer in the Border Police and was decorated for his role in thwarting a terror attack in Beersheba in 2002. One city worker recalled of Alon, “He was really admirable. It’s impossible to predict that 11 years later, such a disaster would occur.”

Israel Hayom reports that police were also shocked by the incident, as police chief Yohanan Danino said, “The frustrating aspect of this story is that it was probably was not possible to prevent the incident. The killer was not known to social services and he did not receive treatment anywhere. There was no warning.”

Haaretz carries a story that seems to contradict the idea that police didn’t suspect Alon of being capable of violence. After a 2011 argument with his neighbors, the police submitted a request to revoke Alon’s weapon. However, Alon told the court that he needed his weapon for protection due to his previous work in the security services and said not having a weapon could prove fatal for him. The court acquiesced and he was allowed to keep his gun.

However, Haaretz columnist Amir Oren opines that crimes like Alon’s “cannot be stopped.” Despite the good work of the police, Oren writes, “There is no realistic way to prevent a man who has no criminal record — certainly a former border policeman who once patrolled with the Palestinian Authority — from waking up one hot morning, going crazy and embarking on a killing spree.”

All the papers seem to agree that the spark for the attack was Alon being refused a line of credit from the bank. Israel Hayom provides a timeline, which starts at 9 a.m. when Alon visited the bank and applied for a loan. His loan application was refused and Alon argued with the management and vowed to return. He returned at 11:30 and began the attack, but it wasn’t until 12:59 p.m. that passersby heard gunshots and called the police, who arrived four minutes later.

Maariv tries to equate 2012’s self-immolation of Moshe Silman to Monday’s attack in Beersheba. The paper quotes a number of aid groups who are trying to help people deal with the financial burden. Ran Melamed of the group “Yedid” (friend) told the paper that this incident shows how much stress financial woes place on people. “This event should send a clear message to the government and to the Knesset: You need to think differently about the state budget.”