A Bedouin terror suspect who hit a military boarding school student with his car last month in the southern city of Be'er Sheva claimed in his trial on Monday that he slammed into the uniformed teenager by accident.
Amir Alkarnawi, a resident of the southern Bedouin city of Rahat, is suspected of having deliberately rammed his vehicle into the 18-year-old as part of a planned terror attack.
Alkarnawi, 39, denied the allegations against him and listed off reasons why he could not and would not act against the state, including his support for Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu.
“I’m not a terrorist, I’m a resident of Israel that respects the rule of law and everyone else,” he told the presiding judge. “I voted for Benjamin Netanyahu and love Israel. I also volunteered for Magen David Adom for two years.”
The victim, who is a student at the Air Force Technological College in Be'er Sheva and was wearing a military uniform at the time of the incident, said he was certain Alkarnawi’s actions amounted to a terrorist attack.
"I heard a car accelerate, I managed to turn back a bit to look over my shoulder and I saw him speed towards me," he recalled.
"I don't know if I was stressed, or if it was the adrenaline rush after the car rammed into me, but I understood that I was on his windshield. He turned left and I tried to push myself to get off the car.
I got up, but I fell forward because my leg was broken. After I understood that I could not walk, I sat down and started dragging myself back. A bystander who stood nearby called for an ambulance after I asked her to."
According to the State Attorney’s Office, a day prior to the incident, Alkarnawi shared social media post in which he decried alleged racial discrimination against him after he claimed police failed to respond to threats made against him by a Jewish man.
“If you respect us – we’ll respect you. If you won’t, you’ll suffer. This isn’t a threat, but we’re willing to give up our life for our honor,” the suspect says in the video.
The State Attorney’s Office added that the unidentified Jewish individual called Alkarnawi a “stinking Arab,” while honking his horn at his truck that blocked his parking space.
In response, Alkarnawi exited his vehicle and spit on the man, at which time the man retorted by saying Alkarnawi deserved “a bullet to the head.” Alkarnawi later reported the incident to the police, complaining he was being threatened.
After the alleged threat was made, Alkarnawi began filming himself confronting the man claiming he threatened to shoot him. The man responded by calling Alkarnawi “a lying Arab”.
Alkarnawi then called the police and requested they arrive on the scene. Once police officers arrived, they separated the two and detained them for questioning.
Following his release from the police station, Alkarnawi was discontent with the manner in which the police managed the complaint he filed against the man and filmed the video for social media.
“I call on you, Bedouins, you have to be prepared for every threat, so that everyone keeps themselves safe. We’re being threatened in this racist country,” he said in the video.
In another video he posted, Alkarnawi said, “one day I’ll take what I deserve. Your interests do not concern me.”