Suspect indicted for act of terror in stabbing of Ramat Gan official

The State Attorney’s Office on Monday indicted Muhammad Watad Salim, a pharmaceutical worker, who is accused of stabbing the head of Ramat Gan’s religious council earlier this month in an apparent terror attack.

The 20-year-old, an employee at a Ramat Gan pharmacy from the Arab town of Jatt, is charged with attempted aggravated murder after allegedly stabbing 47-year-old Gedalyahu Ben Shimon in the Tel Aviv suburb.

According to the indictment, the man came to work March 10 with a sharp knife. About 10 minutes after people in the area received warning of an incoming Iranian missile attack, Watad left his place of work and set his sights on a victim.

Watad caught Ben Shimon off guard outside, stabbing him several times across his body with the intention to kill, prosecutors write. After Ben Shimon fell to the ground, Watad kicked him incessantly as he bled out.

Ben Shimon was severely wounded in the attack and paramedics rushed him to Tel Aviv’s Ichilov Medical Center, where he underwent emergency surgery. He emerged in stable condition.

Today’s indictment stresses that Watad sought to kill Ben Shimon out of religious and nationalist fervor, noting he shouted “Allahu Akbar” — meaning “God is greatest” in Arabic — while assaulting his victim.

The defendant is also accused in the Tel Aviv District Court of obstructing legal proceedings, as well as holding a knife in the context of an act of terror.

Earlier this month, Watad claimed before the court that he was wrongfully nabbed by police while running out of his workplace to take cover from the missiles.