Hundreds protest police inaction after pizzeria murder: ‘This is a wake-up call’

Hours after seven teenagers were arrested Saturday in connection with the stabbing death of a restaurant employee in Petah Tikva on Independence Day, hundreds gathered outside the eatery demanding more police action.

Local protesters were joined by a number of opposition politicians, who blamed National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and the Israel Police for failure to tackle rampant crime, leaving residents living in fear after the murder of 21-year-old Pizza Hut worker Yemanu Binyamin Zelka.

“Ben Gvir, wake up,” participants could be heard chanting in footage.

Blue and White chairman Benny Gantz and his fellow party MK Pnina Tamano-Shata attended the rally, as did The Democrats MK Gilad Kariv.

“It is utterly shocking how easily his blood was shed,” Tamano-Shata said at the protest, according to Haaretz. “This is a wake-up call. Blood is being spilled in the streets for no reason. This shows that something is breaking down in our society.”

“There’s another thing that cannot be ignored: It took the police three days to arrest the suspects, when every child in Petah Tikva knew their names,” added Tamano-Shata, who, like Zelka, is a member of the Ethiopian-Israeli community. “The videos and the names were going around, and the police did nothing.”

Channel 12 news on Saturday aired an image of the 15-year-old main suspect in the killing, who was caught on camera holding a knife covered in blood.

Zelka was working at the Pizza Hut restaurant in the Kfar Ganim neighborhood when he politely asked a group of youths to stop spraying party foam in the restaurant late Tuesday night, police said.

The group of teenagers threatened Zelka and waited outside the restaurant for him to finish his shift, then one of them stabbed him to death while the others beat him or stood and watched, police sources said. Zelka was hospitalized but died of his wounds on Thursday.

Warning: Graphic footage

According to Hebrew media outlets, it took police more than 36 hours to seriously investigate the killing, believing at first that it was a brawl among teenagers that had gotten out of hand.

Seven minors ages were arrested on Saturday in connection with the killing. The main suspect was reportedly arrested in an apartment where he was hiding in central Israel after officers broke in and then chased him after he tried to flee.

At the rally on Saturday, residents accused police of letting crime run rampant through Petah Tikva.

“I’ve been a resident of Petah Tikva since 1985,” said Avi Wassie, according to the Ynet news site. “It’s a good city but it’s going downhill. The police are helpless; they are too busy dealing with politics to protect residents.”

According to Hebrew media outlets, two of the seven suspects were released to house arrest on Saturday, while the remaining five will appear on Sunday in court for a remand hearing.

The minors “conducted themselves like veteran criminals” since the killing early on Wednesday, having turned off their phones and stayed away from their homes to avoid getting caught, according to police sources cited by Hebrew media.

The seven suspects are reportedly aged 13 to 17, some of whom are already known to police, including one suspect who hails from a crime family. Haaretz reported that some of the suspects attend the same school, and that they are all residents of Petah Tikva.

Zelka’s family said he was a “pure, innocent child,” and he was remembered as well-liked, humble and hardworking by the Petah Tikva yeshiva high school where he was a student, and the religious youth group where he was a counselor.