On Tuesday night, a man identified as Mohammad Ghaleb Abu al-Kian, 34, was shot and killed by a bystander after he killed four Israelis in Beersheba, in southern Israel.
According to Israeli media, al-Kian was driving a car, and ran over Rabbi Moshe Kravitsky, who was riding a bicycle.
He then allegedly drove to a gas station, where he exited the vehicle and stabbed Laura Yitzhak.
Following that stabbing, he drove to a nearby shopping center, exited the car, and stabbed Yehezkel and Yahbas. A bus driver then shot and killed al-Kian.
The four Israelis killed were buried on Wednesday, following Jewish tradition to bury the body soon after death.
They were identified as Doris Yahbas, 49, Laura Yitzhak, 43, Menach Yehezkel Menuchin, 67, and Moshe Kravitsky, 50.
Just days before this attack, Journalist Israel Harel wrote a piece in the Israeli daily Ha’aretz praising the Israeli government’s decision to further displace the Bedouin population in the Negev.
Harel wrote, “In the first stage, 20,000 apartments will be built, as well as an industrial zone for advanced technology. In addition to finding a solution to the dire housing shortage among the ultra-Orthodox community, the city, in the specific site on which it will be constructed, will assist, in this initiative’s secondary objective, to halt, even if only in part, the process through which the Negev is being taken over by the Bedouin community, a process which in recent years has taken on alarming proportions.”
Israeli Hadash party condemned the attack and said, “the way of violence is not the way of the Arab public in general and the Negev in particular and is not part of the just struggle of the Negev Arabs against the dispossession and oppression,” the Jerusalem Post said.
“We already hear the instigators intend to use the tragedy to ignite a racist fire and lead to violence against Arab citizens. They must not be allowed to exploit the murder of innocent people to lead to more violence,” added the party.
It is worth mentioning that Abu al-Kiyan, a Bedouin man from Hura town, was previously imprisoned by Israel, and a security source told Haaretz the assailant was a known ISIS supporter.
Several Palestinian Authority officials denounced the attack in letters to Israeli counterparts.
The Israeli police and Internal Security arrested two members of Mohammad’s family under the suspicion that they “knew about the attack, but failed to stop it, however, the allegations could not be substantiated.
According to the Negev News Arab website, the Abu al-Kian family strongly denounce the attack and said Mohammad does not represent the family and its beliefs and sent its condolences to the victims and their families.
The Arabs48 news website has reported that “The High Arab Steering Committee in the Negev” also denounced the attack and said it does not represent the Arab residents of the Negev.
It added that the attack also tries to paint the Arabs in the Negev as guilty and racist, and said: “despite the long history of racism, discrimination and incitement against us, and despite what we have recently been facing, including attacks by Israeli militias targeting our very own existence, we continue to believe in the civil struggle within the law until achieving out full and equal rights for everybody in the Negev.”
The Committee expressed its condolences to the families, wished a full recovery to the wounded, and warned of the increasing incitement by Israeli fanatics against the Bedouins in the Negev.
“We all need to act responsibly, and we warn that incitement is just going to bring more suffering against the Arabs in general, and the Bedouins in particular,” the Committee said, “There are some in Israel, especially the extreme rightwing, who are using this tragedy for political gains and are inciting against us and our existence.
