Indictment filed against Tel Aviv stabbing suspect
18-year-old Imad Agbar is charged four counts of attempted murder and terrorism after attempting to stab four people to death in Tel Aviv on April 23 with a pair of wire cutters and a sharpened belt buckle.
Agbar is being charged with four counts of attempted murder and terrorism.
According to the indictment, Agbar attempted to kill the victims simply because they were Jews and assumed that he would either be arrested or killed, thereby becoming a martyr and a hero.
According to investigators, the April 23 attack was not the first time Agbar had the motivation to commit a terror attack. In December 2016, Agbar had decided to carry out an attack at the Dead Sea and bought a 15cm knife with a detachable blade for that purpose.
Apparently, Agbar made his way to Jericho where he took a cab to the Dead Sea. During the drive, the cab driver told Agbar that not many people were at the Dead Sea due to the time of year. Agbar then decided to abandon the idea and returned to Jericho and threw away the knife.
In March, Agbar decided to go to Tel Aviv, where there would be more potential victims.
Agbar then approached a company organizing tourist trips in the city and one-day entry permits to Israel. He then studied the area utilizing Google Maps and sharpened and polished his belt buckle into a weapon that would go unnoticed during security checks.
On April 23, Agbar left the group he was attached to and stabbed a 70-year-old man with his belt buckle before fleeing the scene and making his way toward the Leonardo Beach Hotel.
Upon entering the lobby, Agbar grabbed a set of sharp wire cutters and proceeded to stab a woman in the head and two other people in the hotel before being chased by another guest and neutralized before police arrived on the scene.
In her request for remand extension, Racheli Hazan-Feldman of the Tel Aviv District Prosecutor's office, said, "There is no need to elaborate on the gravity of the defendants actions, who decided to embark on a murder spree of Jews in order to become a martyr.
"The attempted murders were carried out with meticulous planning and brute force, as evidenced by the defendant stabbing his victims over and over again. The defendant's plans were halted only due to the resourcefulness of civilians who intervened and prevented the accused from continuing. Luckily the incident only ended in injuries."
