On Friday, January 1, 2015, an Arab Israeli named Nashat
Melhem, paid three Israeli Shekels for some pecan nuts at a health store called
Anise in the popular entertainment area of Dizengoff Center in central Tel Aviv,
Israel. Then, he walked next door to a cafe where a group of young people
were celebrating a birthday party. He took an automatic weapon out
of his black bag and then, smiling, opened fire at the people in the cafe. Two people
were killed and seven were wounded, including an Arab worker. He left the café and
shot at a few other storefronts in the immediate area breaking their windows. Then,
he ran to Ibn Gvirol Street, a main thoroughfare, where he hailed a cab that
took him to North Tel Aviv. In a sandy area, he killed the Bedouin taxi driver,
a resident of the city of Lod, and then drove the taxi a short distance to the
Ramat Aviv area of Tel Aviv. Nashat Melhem’s mobile phone was found on a path
in a residential area there, which he knew well (and residents knew him) from
previous employment as a delivery man and handyman. There is still no evidence of Nashat’s whereabouts. He has disappeared despite a
massive on-going police manhunt. We did learn, however, that the Nashat made a preliminary survey of the area a couple of days before the shooting, and residents even complained of a suspicious person to police, who unfortunately did not follow up the complaint.
Because the pub was at a popular site, it was
heavily covered by surveillance cameras. When the Nashat’s picture
was broadcast (he wore no mask), his father, a resident
of the Arab village of Ara'ra in Northern Israel, came forward and identified
his son. He called for his son to surrender to the authorities and affirmed
that this was not how he educated his children. It is now known that Nashat had
taken his father’s weapon, who legally had it by virtue of his position as a
volunteer policeman. We also know that Nashat had a security
record, was convicted for trying to steal an M-16 rifle and served time in
prison. Also, it seems that he may have had psychological problems. The Israeli
Arab community has broadly condemned this unprovoked, senseless killing of
innocent civilians at a location, whose only recommendation for this vicious
act, is that there is a good chance that there will be a crowd of unprotected
party-goers and revelers within a small area.
From the shooting on January 1 till January 8, the police used all its considerable methods to locate the shooter. In Tel Aviv, it combed streets and houses for the shooter after the murder but had no results. The
shooter was still at large, and it was known that he still had his weapon. Police
were on high alert in Tel Aviv as the manhunt
continued, with initial fear of another shooting, perhaps against children at a school. Understandably,
the school turnout was low in the first few days; many parents exercised due caution and kept their
children home. In the meantime, the police had taken some
of the shooter’s family members into custody for questioning, including the brother and
father. As the days passed, the police thought that the shooter may have gotten to the Judea-Samaria territories, perhaps with the help of criminal elements.
The Arab family of the murdered taxi driver informed that it was using its own contacts to try and locate the shooter and refused to talk with the Arab family of the shooter. The patriarch of the taxi driver's family said: "They murdered him; all of the family [of the shooter] killed him." The taxi driver was one of 18 children of his father (by 2 wives). The taxi driver himself had 12 children (from 3 wives). This was a huge Bedouin clan. Unlike Western thinking, where we think of isolated individuals doing things to other individuals, the Arab community viewed this act as a murder committed by one family against another family, and revenge in this culture figures high on the list of possible actions. The Arab community handles matters like these by its own code of ethics, often violently.
The Arab family of the murdered taxi driver informed that it was using its own contacts to try and locate the shooter and refused to talk with the Arab family of the shooter. The patriarch of the taxi driver's family said: "They murdered him; all of the family [of the shooter] killed him." The taxi driver was one of 18 children of his father (by 2 wives). The taxi driver himself had 12 children (from 3 wives). This was a huge Bedouin clan. Unlike Western thinking, where we think of isolated individuals doing things to other individuals, the Arab community viewed this act as a murder committed by one family against another family, and revenge in this culture figures high on the list of possible actions. The Arab community handles matters like these by its own code of ethics, often violently.
*
As New Year’s Day approached, throughout Europe, there were
en masse cancellations of holiday celebrations in major cities with mounting evidence
of possible planned attacks by ISIS terrorists against holiday gatherings in
the great cities of Europe: in Paris, celebrations were reduced; in Brussels, celebrations
were cancelled; in Munich, subway stations were closed. Europe finally seems to
be internalizing the lessons of the terrorist attacks that had begun early in 2015.
Europe had rationalized away the Charlie Hebdo massacre of journalists as due
to Mohammed caricatures, and attacks on Jewish sites as, well, obviously (and
understandably) due to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. President Obama even
said that the attack on the HyperCasher store was not specifically intended
against Jews but rather was an attack on some people who happened to be shopping
at a supermarket (even though the shooter declared that he had specifically
chosen a Jewish target).
It was hard to believe that the Europeans and Americans could
be so utterly stupid, but they apparently very much wanted to believe that that
there was some logical ‘reason’ behind wanton murder.
Then came the Bataclan
Concert Hall attack on November 13, 2015 on
young music-goers (130 killed) and the related pub and soccer stadium attacks.
With so many dead and wounded, even a committed fool such as John Kerry had to
admit there was no way to explain away that premeditated massacre of young
people. This was unmitigated hatred, carried out with the intent to kill as
many innocent civilians as possible. Here you could not find any ‘Jewish’ or
‘Israeli’ connection and no Mohammed caricature connection. No revenge for any
so-called crimes against Palestinians. It was murder for the sake of murder, pure
hatred and paid for by rivers of innocent blood. This is ISIS’ brand of Islamic
justice, jihad against the West. But wait! Kerry and Barak Obama and Merkel
will still tell you that ISIS’ killers are not Muslims, that they are not
believers in Islam. This reminds me of a quote from Star Wars Episode IV: “Who's
the more foolish...the fool or the fools who follows him?"
Personally, I don’t know how anyone can deny that these murderers—whose
holy book is the Koran, who want to set up a Caliphate (reminiscent of the
Muslim Golden Age), who abide by Sharia law (the Islamic legal
code), who requires their women to cover up in traditional Islamic dress, who
pray according to orthodox Islamic practice—are anything but radical jihadist
Muslims.
*
For over a year, ISIS has been established in Gaza and has
been responsible for some rocket attacks on Southern Israel, and ISIS
cells have already been uncovered in Israel. Prior to the Tel Aviv New
Year’s shooting, ISIS circulated a video on social media announcing that Israel
was an intended target. It is also known that ISIS is close
to Israel’s northern border (having about 600 fighters with heavy weapons according
to Israeli intelligence) in their on-going war against the Assad regime.
Several Arab Israelis have gone into Syria to fight for ISIS (some were killed
there and at least one returned to Israel).And now, back to our shooter. It seems that the Europeans, this time, had fortunately succeeded in avoiding what was clear evidence of intended ISIS-inspired attacks on civilian holiday gatherings. But the similarities with the scenario forecast for Europe and the attack in Tel Aviv is stark. The shooter chose to do mass killing at an obviously Jewish site not an Arab site, and he chose New Year’s Day, which is significant for other ISIS terrorist attempts, and he chose a group of party-goers. And he seems to have smiled as he did his killing. Interestingly, it was reported that on Friday, the day of the shooting, residents of North Tel Aviv filed a complaint with the police that ISIS flags were flying at a building site there.
*
By Friday, January 8, the police had succeeded in geolocating the area in which the shooter was hiding using the mobile phone that the shooter had taken from the dead taxi driver (he had thrown away his own phone in North Tel Aviv before he began his killing spree). From the murder scene, the shooter had escaped back to his home town in the Wadi Ara area where he was hiding out. A large squad of elite police officers descended on one of the the neighborhoods, commanded by police chief Rony Alshayach, and began a house to house search, visibly marking each house after searching it. The police chief gave orders to try and take the shooter alive. But the shooter, seeing the activity, made a break for it, trying to shoot his was through the police line and was shot dead. It was over. All of Israel breathed a sigh of relief.For now, there is a lot that we still don’t know. We don’t know whether this was an ISIS-inspired attack, whether it was by a lone wolf shooter, or whether he had some broader support organization or helpers. At least one well-informed military writer said that a possible escape route of the shooter was to get to the Territories and from there to Jordan and then Syria possibly via Turkey. The implications are obvious.
ISIS informed
us they were coming in a prerecorded speech by ISIS commander Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. "With the help of Allah, We are
getting closer to you every day," al-Baghdadi told his Israeli listeners.
"The Israelis will soon see us in Palestine.”
Now, I think it's too early to say if there is a direct relationship
between the speech and the shooting, but for now I
am willing to give ISIS the credit that I think they are due--they have indeed
arrived here in Israel.
We are continuing to follow this story and will keep you
posted.
