Teen arrested for allegedly posting intention to kill Jews at kibbutz
17-year-old from Arab Israeli town reportedly uploaded video to TikTok in which he called for ‘slaughtering’ Jews and praised terrorist responsible for deadly Huwara attack
A 17-year-old was arrested Monday at a kibbutz in northern Israel for allegedly uploading a video to TikTok threatening to kill Jews and praising the terrorist that killed two Israeli brothers in the West Bank town of Huwara on Sunday.
A Beersheba resident who saw the video, in which the suspect threatened to “slaughter” any Jews that visited the popular Asi Stream at Kibbutz Nir David, alerted the police regarding the threats, according to the Ynet news site.
Police later located and arrested the suspect on the the kibbutz premises with the assistance of a helicopter.
According to Hebrew media reports, the suspect did not have his phone with him at the time of his arrest and denied uploading the video. However, police reportedly discovered the phone in nearby bushes.
The suspect, a resident of the central Arab Israeli town of Taybeh, was taken to a local police station for further questioning.
The arrest came a day after two Jewish Israelis were shot dead by a terrorist as they drove through the northern West Bank town of Huwara. In an apparent revenge attack, hundreds of Israeli settlers rampaged violently for hours in the town, setting fire to Palestinian homes and cars.
The Palestinian Health Ministry said one man was shot dead by Israeli fire during the riots in the town of Za’tara, south of Huwara and near the Israeli settlement of Kfar Tapuah. A military source said Israeli troops were not involved in the shooting.
Tensions between Israel and the Palestinians have been high for the past year, with the IDF conducting near-nightly raids in the West Bank amid a series of deadly Palestinian terror attacks.
Terror attacks in Jerusalem in recent weeks have left 13 people dead — including in Hawara — and several more seriously hurt.
Over 60 Palestinians have been killed since the beginning of the year, most of them while carrying out attacks or during clashes with security forces, but some were uninvolved civilians and others were killed under circumstances that are being investigated.
Emanuel Fabian contributed to this report.
