Israel’s security forces arrested two of the brothers of Islamic terrorist Muhammad Abu Alqian, who stabbed and murdered four Israelis in Be’er Sheva on Tuesday evening, on suspicion that they saw him leaving the house armed with a knife, knew what he planned and failed to notify the authorities.
The police estimate that the terrorist acted alone, but the possibility is being investigated that the brothers knew he would carry out an attack.
Even before Tuesday’s deadly attack, the worst Israel has experienced since 2017, Israel’s security establishment has been preparing for a wave of terrorism throughout Israel in the coming weeks, ahead of the Muslim month of Ramadan and the first anniversary of the outbreak of Muslim riots in the cities in Israel, in tandem with Hamas’ attack on the country which prompted the launch of Operation Guardian of the Walls.
The police announced it will increase the deployment of its forces in various places in the country and the level of its alert.
From the beginning of the month until Tuesday’s attack, there were seven other terror attacks, in which three civilians and eight policemen were injured, mostly in the Jerusalem area.
The terrorist in Be’er Sheva, a Bedouin with Israeli citizenship, was an Islamic State (ISIS) supporter who tried to reach Syria and joined the terror organization.
In 2016, he was sentenced to four years in prison for establishing an ISIS cell in which he served as a “spiritual teacher.” He attended rallies of ISIS supporters in Israel and the indictment charged him with incitement to terrorism. He lost his job as a teacher with five other Bedouin ISIS supporters after he was caught teaching ISIS ideology in class.
During his trial, the prosecution demanded that he be severally sentenced, but the judge said that “his expression of remorse seems sincere” and gave him a minimum sentence of four years.
The defense establishment claims that there was no way to warn of Abu Alqian’s intention ahead of time and that this is a terrorist attack of the type that is difficult to prevent.
