Palestinian Murders IDF Soldier, Hy”d, in Afula Bus Station

A Palestinian teenager stabbed an Israeli soldier to death at a bus station in northern Israel on Wednesday, police said. Hy”d.

The soldier was evacuated to hospital in critical condition where he died of his wounds, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said, adding the attacker told investigators that he stabbed the soldier because he has relatives in prison in Israel.

The soldier was named as 19-year-old Private Eden Atias, a resident of Nazareth Illit, who had enlisted in the army a few weeks prior to the attack. He was reportedly on his way back to his base when he was murdered.

The attacker, a 16-year-old Palestinian from Jenin who was working in Israel illegally, was apprehended and under investigation, Rosenfeld said. The knife he used to stab the soldier was confiscated.

The stabbing took place on a Tel Aviv-bound bus as it made a stop in the northern Israeli city of Afula.

Almagor, an Israeli group representing victims of the Palestinian attacks, said Wednesday’s stabbing shows Israel was wrong to go through with the prisoners’ release because it would encourage Palestinians to believe that despite attacks they will be released someday.

Atias was to be laid to rest on Wednesday at 11 p.m. in the military cemetery in Nazareth Illit, an IDF spokesperson said.

The Israel Prison Service stated after the killing that two of the suspect’s cousins are currently in prison in Israel. One of them, Muhammed Juwadra, is serving three life sentences for the murder of Israelis Cartiso Radikov and Amos Mantiu, a Bezeq employee shot dead in the village of Baka al-Gharbiya in 2003 during the Second Intifada.

The other cousin is serving a 12-year-sentence for attempted murder.

This article appeared in print on page 1 of the November 14th, 2013 edition of Hamodia.