Shin Bet says deadly stabbing last week a terror attack

The deadly stabbing in Petah Tikva in which Rabbi Shai Ohayon was killed was a terror attack, the Shin Bet security service says, confirming earlier suspicions.

“In a joint investigation by the Shin Bet and Israel Police it was determined that the assailant acquired a knife and carried out the attack from nationalist motives,” the security service says.

According to the Shin Bet, the suspected terrorist — Khalil Abd al-Khaliq Dweikat, 46, of Rujeeb in the northern West Bank — had a legal work permit, but it claims he was in violation of it during the time of the attack.

“The assailant had a work permit for Israel under which he was allowed to work in Israel and return home each day to the area where he lived in the West Bank. The assailant violated this condition of the permit by remaining in Israel for several days in a row ahead of the attack,” the security service says.

However, at the time of the attack, Palestinians were not permitted to cross back and forth daily due to special pandemic rules in place.

Asked about the discrepancy, a Shin Bet spokesperson says “that’s not something we deal with.”

The Shin Bet vets Palestinian workers to make sure they are not a security threat and defense officials have proudly pointed to the fact that very few attacks over the years have been attributed to workers holding permits.

— Judah Ari Gross