The Shin Bet domestic security service said Sunday the murder of Ori Ansbacher in Jerusalem on Thursday night was nationalistically motivated.
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Earlier, Arafat Irfayia, 29, a Palestinian suspected of brutally killing the 19-year-old woman, reenacted the murder in the woods at Ein Yael on the outskirts of Jerusalem. He will be brought in front of a judge for a remand extension on Monday.
In addition, Border Police officers retraced Ansbacher's steps in the forest before she was murdered.
Border Police officers retrace Ansbacher's steps in the forest
(צילום: משה מזרחי)
The Shin Bet said Irfayia left his home in Hebron carrying a knife, saw the victim in the forest, attacked and killed her. A gag order has been placed over other details from the investigation.
Irfayia, a resident of Hebron, is believed to be affiliated with the Hamas terror group and was previously imprisoned for possession of a knife and illegally residing in Israel.
He was arrested by Israeli forces on Saturday night in raid near a mosque Ramallah.
Security camera footage led the Border Police's counterterrorism Yamam unit to a building adjacent to the mosque, where the suspect was hiding, and where he was eventually captured without resisting arrest. Neither the knife with which he reportedly killed Ansbacher nor any other weapon were found in his possession.
Hundreds of people gathered on Saturday night at a candle-light vigil for the victim at Tel Aviv's Rabin Square. In Tekoa, dozens of local residents also attended a memorial at the settlement’s main square.
In addition, some 100 people gathered at Jerusalem's Zion Square and called on the government to avenge the murder. Dozens of demonstrators also blocked the entrance to Jerusalem, chanting: “The people demand revenge.”
"We came here to express our pain ... The way she was murdered is shocking, and the entire country must tremble in the face of this atrocity,” said Yamit Abramov, a friend of the victim’s family.
“Ori walked the earth confidently, having faith in the world, when an evil force came and took her from us,” said Ori’s mother, Noa Ansbacher, in a statement from the family home in Tekoa. “She was a noble soul, beautiful inside and out.”
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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife pay a condolence visit to the Ansbacher family
On Sunday afternoon, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara paid a condolence visit to the Ansbacher family in the settlement of Tekoa in the West Bank.