Israel Police tracked down and captured a 22-year-old man suspected of breaking into the Gedera home of a young mother on Thursday and raping her in front of her child. The perpetrator allegedly broke into the home after climbing onto the balcony of the woman’s first-floor apartment.
The arrest took place on Saturday, less than 48 hours after the attack.
The suspect, a Bedouin resident of an unrecognized village in the Negev, was arrested in the Palestinian Authority controlled areas of Judea and Samaria. At least six other Bedouins from unrecognized villages in the Negev were also arrested in connection with the attack.
Police said evidence collected at the scene points to one extended Bedouin family that apparently works in Gedera.
The victim, a woman in her 30s, was tied up by the perpetrator “next to my little son,” she told police. “After walking around the whole house, he came back and raped me,” she said, according to Israel’s Channel 12 News.
The rapist then stole property from her home and fled.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir visited Gedera to meet with the horrified community the next morning.
Following the capture of the suspect, the minister welcomed the arrest in a statement in which he offered “compliments to Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai, Central District Commander Avi Biton and the police forces who took part in the operation.”
Ben Gvir said he hopes the investigation “will discover the truth and quick reveal these lawless men,” and said the swift arrest was “very important for Gedera residents’ feelings of security and for uncovering the truth.”
The minister further said police are checking to see if the rape was carried out for nationalist reasons. “If so, we must quickly proceed with my bill to intensify the punishment.”
Ben Gvir added that he has ordered the commissioner and the district commander to place an emphasis on Gedera residents’ sense of security, and to focus on their complaints that there are many illegals in the Golda neighborhood.
“We will do everything to ensure the citizens of Israel feel safe,” he said.
Shabtai likewise congratulated police forces, noting the department “opened all the laboratories for the investigation of the rape in Gedera and did not spare any technological and investigative means in order to find the suspect . . . Israel Police will do everything to bring the rape suspect to justice and we will demand that he be severely punished,” he added.
