Palestinian former Shin Bet informant indicted for killing 83-year-old woman in Herzliya terror attack

An indictment is filed against Ibrahim Shalhoub, from the West Bank city of Tulkarem, on terrorism charges for murdering 83-year old Holocaust survivor Ludmila Lipovski in Herzliya last month.

Shalhoub, 28, was a former informant for the Shin Bet domestic security service, who was allowed to move to Israel after his identity was exposed.

According to the indictment, shortly after he was allowed to take up residency in Israel, Shalhoub’s family severed times with him, and he decided to carry out a terror attack.

He bought a long kitchen knife two days before he carried out the murder, and the next day went to scope out an appropriate site for his terror attack, eventually deciding on an assisted living complex in the city.

The following day, he armed himself with his new knife and another knife and made his way to the site he had inspected the previous day.

When he saw Lipovski waiting to be picked up by her daughter, “he drew his knife and stabbed her in the upper body approximately 11 times” while calling out “Allah is great” and praying in Arabic.

Shalhoub did not stop stabbing Lipovski until he was shot and wounded by a security guard from the Israel Post Office who was close by and ran to the scene.

Shalhoub fell down after being shot, but then attempted to get back up and attack the security guard before being shot a second time.

Lipvski was taken to hospital but died a short time afterwards.

The State Attorney’s Office has requested Shalhoub be held in prison until the end of legal proceedings against him.

“The defendant is accused of carrying out a murderous terrorist attack, a security offense punishable by life imprisonment, which was committed with severe violence and cruelty,” the State Attorney’s Office said in requesting Shalhoub be kept in detention.

He faces life in prison if convicted.