A Jordanian citizen attacked his Jewish co-worker on Thursday while the two were working at an auto repair shop in Petach Tikvah.
The Jordanian, who possessed a legal Israeli work permit, stabbed the Jewish co-worker, a man in his thirties, in the chest, inflicting serious injuries.
Medics from the Magen David Adom (MDA) emergency medical response service treated the Jewish victim, Ben Yamin, at the scene before rushing him to nearby Beilinson Medical Center, where he was listed in serious condition.
There was some warning that the terrorist was contemplating an attack, according to the two owners of the Yamin Brothers’ Car Repair garage, Eli Yamin, and his brother and partner, Moshe.
The Hebrew-language Ma’ariv news outlet reported that the Jordanian had turned to one of the owners the previous night (Wednesday) and declared, “This country is not yours. It belongs to the Arabs and in the end, the Arabs will take it.”
Moshe Yamin told his brother Eli at that point, “Something smells bad. We give him a salary, treat him like a king, and he speaks in this hostile manner.”
Eli called the worker and spoke with him, saying that if he was in trouble he would help him, but that it was not appropriate to say such things.
But apparently the message was ignored. The next morning, while Eli Yamin was away, his son Ben shouted to his uncle Moshe, “He’s stabbing me!”
Moshe Yamin told Ma’ariv that he ran to them and yelled at the attacker, who had a knife and a battery in his hands, “What are you doing?”
Yamin said he kicked the stabber and hit him. “He dropped the battery and ran outside. I got down and applied pressure to the bleeding wound in Ben’s chest – he lost a lot of blood,” he lamented, adding, “I started weeping: This is my nephew, he is like my own child.”
While applying pressure to the wound, Moshe Yamin called his brother Eli, and the police.
The terrorist, meanwhile, was also busy; he smashed his own cell phone, presumably to ensure police could not gather additional evidence about his intentions or anyone who may have helped him.
The police arrived swiftly, before the attacker could escape. They tased him and then arrested him.
Ben Yamin was treated at the scene by medics from the Magen David Adom emergency medical service before they rushed him to nearby Beilinson Medical Center, where he is listed in serious condition.
Israel Police and the Shin Bet domestic intelligence agency are cooperating on the investigation.
This is not the first or second time that an Arab – either from the Palestinian Authority, Gaza or elsewhere in the region – has been granted a permit to work in Israel and used it to attack Jews.
Such work permits are highly prized because jobs in Israel pay much better than they do elsewhere.
