Traffic camera led to arrest of Israelis charged with killing IDF soldier

A week after two Bedouin Israelis were arrested over the killing of an IDF soldier last month in the southern city of Arad, the Shin Bet security service released the video footage which it said helped to identify and arrest the suspects.

In the footage, shown on Hebrew media, a car is seen driving at high speed, bumping over two traffic islands and continuing on the wrong side of the road. The time stamp on the video puts it immediately after the murder.

Earlier this month the Shin Bet charged the two suspects, Khaled Abu Jaudah, 22, from an unrecognized Bedouin village in southern Israel, and his half-brother Zahi Abu Jaudah, 22.

תיעוד: רוצחי החייל רון קוקיא נמלטים מערד לאחר הרצח • @bokeralmog עם כל הפרטים >> https://t.co/ylrqqTBLSP pic.twitter.com/gXDHWcYb4j

— חדשות 13 (@newsisrael13) December 31, 2017

The Shin Bet said Khaled Abu Jaudah fatally stabbed Ron Kokia, a sergeant in the IDF’s Nahal Infantry Brigade, while the serviceman waited at a bus stop on November 30. He was charged with first-degree murder, attempted murder, possession of a knife, preparing for an act of terror and using a weapon.

Zahi, who the Shin Bet said acted as his half-brother’s accomplice and assisted him after the attack, was indicted for attempted murder, possession of a knife and obstruction of justice, among other charges.

The charges against the two were classified as terror-related.

According to the indictment, Khaled would watch videos of IDF actions in Gaza and videos praising the Hamas terror group that controls the coastal enclave. In one post he wrote, “May God save the land of the Muslims and make your enemies the enemies of the religion.”

The indictments were filed at the Beersheba District Court.

On December 1, following a large-scale manhunt in the area, the Israel Police and Shin Bet arrested the two Bedouin Israeli suspects and retrieved Kokia’s rifle.

The Shin Bet said that during Khaled’s interrogation, he “admitted to murdering the soldier and stealing [Kokia’s] gun.”

Neither of the two men had a history of terrorist activities, the Shin Bet said.

During his interrogation, Khaled told investigators that his original plan was not to stab a soldier, but to kidnap one, using anesthetics that he was going to steal from Beersheba’s Soroka Medical Center where he worked.

For as-yet unknown reasons, Khaled abandoned this plan and instead plotted to kill a soldier and steal his gun in order to use it in future terror attacks, the Shin Bet said.

Immediately before the attack Khaled bought a getaway car and withdrew NIS 54,000 from his bank account for when he was on the lam, the Shin Bet said.

In the month preceding the attack, he and Zahi drove around Arad looking for a soldier to murder, eventually finding Kokia, whose Nahal Brigade’s home base is located just outside the city.

The soldier was waiting for a ride near a mall in the southern city at approximately 9:30 p.m. when he was attacked that Thursday night.