BAT YAM – Five hundred people gathered on Wednesday evening, October 1, in a demonstration of support for the family of Netanel Arami, who was killed in a suspected Palestinian terror attack two weeks ago. The family, together with hundreds of supporters from across Israel marched from Netanel’s parents’ home in Bat Yam to the police station in a call to locate the murderers and bring justice to the terror victim’s family.
Arami, 27, was killed at a Petach Tikva construction site when the rappelling cable holding him at the 11th floor of a building somehow snapped and he fell to his death. While his death had been previously reported as a work accident, Israeli police on Tuesday said that the married father of two may have actually been killed in a terrorist attack.
“This was no work accident. Netanel was known as an expert in the field. He was very strict and safety was always first for him,” Arami’s brother stated.
Following the lifting of a court-sanctioned gag order, Israeli police revealed on September 30 that they are now investigating the possibility that a fellow Arab worker may have cut the cable that held Arami as he was doing exterior work on a building. Police opened the murder investigation after noticing that the cable supporting Arami had been deliberately cut. At the time of Arami’s death, Palestinian workers were reported to be the only other people in the vicinity of the construction site.
Organizers of the Wednesday evening demonstration, which included the participation of Members of Knesset and other public figures, stated that Israeli police did not act appropriately in response to Arami’s murder. “We expect the Israeli police to protect the victims of terror but we feel that they have not responded accordingly. Unfortunately, the Israeli police have a history of covering up terror attacks,” said Yehuda, one of the organizers of the demonstration.
Moriyah, Netanel’s wife, who is expecting their third child, described her husband as a caring father to their two children. “He was a loving and caring father; he had no enemies and he worked hard to support our family,” she said.
“Now our son asks, where is dad? What do you answer a boy who is two-years-old? I tell our son that dad is watching over us from heaven,” she tearfully said.
Netanel’s mother, Miriam, told Israeli media that the murderers went after her son simply because of his heritage. “Netanel was killed because he was Jewish. I am asking the government to put an end to this slaughter. No one knows who will be next – it can’t be that a man goes to work and doesn’t return home.”
“We knew that our son was murdered from the beginning – Netanel was properly certified and professional as a construction worker,” the mother explained. “We want the murderers to be caught and punished harshly in order to prevent future tragedies like ours.”