Quran note at Negev mall causes terror scare
Police search for woman in Bedouin dress, who hands guard a Hebrew note with verses and Muslim prayers, then leaves
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Police in the southern city of Beersheba were searching Thursday for a woman wearing Bedouin dress, after suspicions were aroused by a note she left with a guard at a local shopping mall.
The note, written in Hebrew, carried Quranic verses and Muslim prayer excerpts, giving rise to fears that it might herald a terror attack, Army Radio reported. After leaving the note at the Negev Mall, the woman left.
Tensions have run high in the Negev desert capital since an October terror attack in the Beersheba bus station in which two people were killed and 11 wounded.
In that incident, Muhanad Alukabi, a Bedouin man, entered the bus station with a knife and a gun and began attacking people, killing Sgt. Omri Levy, before being killed in a shootout with police. Haftom Zarhum, a 29-year-old Eritrean was mistaken as a terrorist, was shot and brutally beaten by bystanders. It was later discovered that Alukabi had been in touch with Hamas.
The killing of the Eritrean by an angry mob of Israelis, combined with the terrorist’s Bedouin background, prompted anger, condemnations, and soul-searching in the respective communities.
Earlier this month, police arrested an unarmed man at the Beersheba bus station because he matched the description of someone who had been reported as suspected of planning attack there.
The Times of Israel Community.