Widow says her husband had asked to bring his gun home, but was refused

IDF probing why soldier killed in supermarket attack was unarmed

After murder of unarmed Tuvia Weissman, army orders troops to take their weapons with them when they go home

By Judah Ari Gross and Joshua Davidovich

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22 February 2016, 10:01 pm

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Tuvia Yanai Weissman, 21, an IDF soldier who was killed in a stabbing attack in a West Bank supermarket on Thursday, February 18, 2016. (Courtesy)

The Israeli military has launched an investigation into why off-duty IDF soldier Tuvia Yanai Weissman did not have his service rifle with him when he was stabbed to death at a West Bank supermarket on Thursday.

Weissman, 21, served as a soldier in the infantry brigade, and was killed while out with his wife, Yael, and baby daughter on regular leave at the Rami Levy supermarket in Sha’ar Binyamin.

IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot said Monday that from this point on, all serving soldiers must take their weapon with them when they leave their base to go home, Channel 10 reported.

In a Channel 2 interview last week, Yael Weissman said her husband ran to help when they heard a scream — as the two Palestinian assailants stabbed their first victim, a man in his mid-30s who was seriously wounded. “He had no weapon,” said Yael, “but he ran to help.”

She told Channel 2 on Monday that he had asked to be allowed to take his weapon with him when he went on leave, “in order to protect himself,” but had been refused.

Earlier Monday, the discount supermarket chain announced that bolstered security measures would be implemented at all of their stores in the West Bank.

An Israel Police officer documents evidence at the scene of a stabbing attack at the Rami Levy supermarket in the Sha'ar Binyamin industrial park, north of Jerusalem, on February 18, 2016. (Israel Police) — An Israel Police officer documents evidence at the scene of a stabbing attack at the Rami Levy supermarket in the Sha’ar Binyamin industrial park, north of Jerusalem, on February 18, 2016. (Israel Police)

The announcement came after two senior Rami Levy executives attended a security hearing at the request of police who, after the attack, said the store’s lax security was partly to blame for the lethal stabbing by two Palestinian 14-year-olds.

Under the new security measures outlined by police, Rami Levy locations in the West Bank must be equipped with security cameras, metal detectors and an increased number of guards, Channel 2 reported.

Police noted the hearing was held in a “positive atmosphere” and said the Rami Levy representatives offered to extend the ramped-up security measures to some of their Jerusalem locations.

The executives said a metal detector had already been erected at the store in Sha’ar Binyamin.

Like dozens of other attacks in recent months, the fatal stabbing on Thursday was carried out by two Palestinian teens, Omar Rimawi and Ihad Sabah from the nearby village of Beitunia outside Ramallah.

Investigators found that Rimawi and Sabah were able to bring knives into the store without being inspected by the security guard at the entrance.