The scene of the attack
Photo: TPS
Shin Bet says last week’s Lod stabbing was a hate crime
Initially suspecting that last week’s stabbing in a parking lot in Lod was a bungled car theft and burglary, Shin Bet says suspect’s interrogation reveals it was nationalistically motivated.
The Shin Bet said Monday that 19-year-old Malec Bassam Ismail Sa'ada committed a hate crime when he stabbed and moderately wounded a 44-year-old woman in a parking lot in the city of Lod last week.
Ismail, a resident of the West Bank city of Halhul, admitted during his interrogation that he committed the act because he was fed up with his life. He also revealed that he specifically looked for a Jewish woman to attack.
Though they initially suspected that the incident was an attempted burglary of the victim’s vehicle, the Shin Bet stated that they now intend to charge him for carrying out a nationalistically-motivated assault and a hate crime.
The scene of the crime (Photo: TPS)
After entereing a parking lot where he spotted the woman, a school principal, he identified her as Jewish due to a scarf she wore on her head—a unique headdress worn by religious Jewish women.
Photo: MDA
Sa'ada then began his pursuit of the woman, chasing her and shouting religious Arabic phrases.
After managing to stab her, Sa'ada fled the scene and was arrested a day later by the Shin Bet while trying to return to the West Bank.
According to the Shin Bet, Sa'ada has no criminal background.
(Translated & edited by Lior Mor)
