כפר ביתה שכם מחבל פתח תקווה
Photo: Alex Kolomoisky
Family of Petah Tikva terrorist: We didn't know of his plans
'My son was an honor student,' says mother of terrorist, explaining recent bad grades prompted the attack; 'We heard it was him who carried out the attack from the media. I was in shock. I started screaming,' the mother adds.
Unlike other terrorists, whose proud neighbors hang photos of them all over their village, the terrorist who carried out the attack at the Petah Tikva market received no such honor.
The village is considered to be pretty well off financially. Many of its residents have Israeli work permits; others work in trade, especially vegetable marketing. Following the attack, Israel revoked all work permits of members of the terrorist's family.
The terrorist's wealthy family lives at the northernmost part of the village in a big three-story house in a narrow and quiet street. The father works in renovations and has Israeli coworkers and clients, while the mother runs a shop. The house carries no indication that this is the home of the "Petah Tikva terrorist," as he was dubbed on social media.
IDF soldiers raid the terrorist's house (Photo: IDF Spokesman's Office)
On Saturday, the terrorist's mother was sitting in the living room surrounded by family and neighbors and was trying to understand what it was that suddenly made her son commit such an attack.
"My son was an honor student," she said, "but lately his grades plummeted. In the day of the attack, he found out that he failed two final exams and was very upset. He came to me at work and told me that. I got very angry, yelled at him and threw him out of the shop. That was the last time I saw him."
The mother is convinced that her son's troubled mental state was what made him commit the attack. "We heard it was him who carried out the attack from the media," she said. "I was in shock. I started screaming. We knew nothing of his plans."
The terrorist's aunt, sitting beside his mother, said that his relatives were anxious to find out his exam results. "But this is what ended up happening," The aunt said. "When I heard what he did I started crying and screaming like crazy," another aunt said. "We all gathered here with our neighbors, in complete shock. We still can't believe he did what he did. No one here is proud of his actions. It's been three days that all we're thinking is 'Why? Why?!'"
