A man is charged with murder over the killing of a young boy in Beit Shemesh last month and the attempted murder of the child’s cousin.
Liel Ifergan, 26, is accused of stabbing to death 7-year-old Hillel Mordechai Dadon and injuring his 4-year-old cousin, while their parents were out of the house
“It is difficult to grasp the gap between an innocent game played by two children in a pool, and the defendant’s decision to arm himself with a knife and take their lives,” prosecutors say, according to reports.
Prosecutors request that Ifergan is detained until the conclusion of legal proceedings.
According to the Kan public broadcaster, Ifergan was armed with a knife when he entered the yard of the neighboring building and stabbed Hillel Mordechai in the chest and his cousin in the neck.
He then fled back the scene and cleaned the blood off the knife, prosecutors say.
Ifergan was reportedly hospitalized at the Eitanim psychiatric hospital several years ago, and he was scheduled for a check-up with his psychiatrist in December. Police said at the time of the murder that the suspect had not been previously known to them.
Liel Ifergan, suspected of murdering a 7-year-old boy and seriously wounding a 4-year-old boy in the city of Beit Shemesh, arrives for a remand hearing at the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court, August 18, 2026. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
Help us report truthfully on social media
As a multimedia journalist, my job is to take the quality, fact-based journalism produced by The Times of Israel newsroom and make it accessible across every platform — from Instagram posts to podcasts to short-form videos.
This is how many, especially young people, consume news these days. But misinformation is rampant on social media. Our team at ToI produces accurate, responsible short-form reporting on Israel and the Jewish world.
If you believe in the importance of factual social media journalism, please consider joining our reader support group, The Times of Israel Community. Your financial support is essential to sustain responsible multimedia reporting.
We’re really pleased that you’ve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month.
That’s why we started the Times of Israel - to provide discerning readers like you with must-read coverage of Israel and the Jewish world.
So now we have a request. Unlike other news outlets, we haven’t put up a paywall. But as the journalism we do is costly, we invite readers for whom The Times of Israel has become important to help support our work by joining The Times of Israel Community.
For as little as $6 a month you can help support our quality journalism while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing exclusive content available only to Times of Israel Community members.
Thank you, David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel
From the Liveblog of
Monday, September 14, 2026
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on Google
