TEL AVIV – According to Israeli police, a Palestinian terrorist who stabbed two Israelis to death and wounded a third in a Jewish prayer room in Tel Aviv, expressed regret for the attack and cried during a reenactment of the crime, the Times of Israel reported.
Raed Khalil bin Mahmoud, a 36-year-old father of five from a West Bank town near Hebron, murdered two Israeli men outside a prayer room two weeks ago. Previously, Mahmoud, who had a permit to work in Israel, had claimed that the reason for the attack was Palestinian suffering and that he was happy to be a martyr. His mother at the time had expressed pride over her son’s attack. “My son is a source of pride for Hebron and Palestine,” the woman told Hamas television soon after the November 19 attack.
Mahmoud is older than many of the Palestinian terrorists carrying out attacks in recent months and his wife had recently given birth to twins. According to police, Mahmoud shed a tear and expressed regret while he was reenacting the crime.
Israel’s Channel 2 broadcast footage from the reenactment in which the terrorist wipes a tear and admits, “I’ve lost everything I had.” Despite Mahoud’s confession, police officer Assaf Baranes said, “We have no definitive explanation.”
Mahmoud’s father-in-law told Channel 2 that he condemned Mahmoud’s actions.
Four days prior to the attack, Mahmoud had been issued a work permit after a background check by Israel’s security services found that he had a clean bill.
He worked in a restaurant close to the Panorama office building in south Tel Aviv, where he carried out his attack on a group of men that had gathered for the Jewish afternoon prayer service.
Mahmoud stabbed two men outside of the prayer room, one of whom crawled into the room before collapsing from the loss of blood. Other worshipers wrestled with Mahmoud as he tried to force his way through. He abandoned his mission and left, but not before stabbing a third victim on his way out. Passersby then overpowered him and held him until the police arrived.
One of the victims was pronounced dead on the scene while another died from his wounds in hospital.
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