Tel Aviv terrorist convicted of 2 counts of attempted murder
Imad Agbar stabbed a 70-year-old man with his belt buckle and then a woman and a hotel employee with a cutter and hit a man in the head with a heavy object, confesses to attempted murder and aggravated battery.
Imad Agbar, a 19-year-old Palestinian terrorist from Nablus, was convicted at the Lod District Court on Monday morning of four counts of attempted murder when he carried out a terror attack in Tel Aviv last year.
According to a plea bargain reached between the prosecution and defense teams in the case, Agbar confessed to two counts of attempted murder and two counts of assault and aggravated battery.
Agbar stabbed three people on April 23 last year at a hotel on Hayarkon Street in Tel Aviv and was indicted a month later.
As part of the amended indictment, Agbar admitted to planning to murder his victims because they were Jewish, so that he would either be killed as a “martyr” or arrested during the attack.
In December 2016, Agbar decided to carry out his attack near the Dead Sea using a knife where he believed finding Jewish victims would not be difficult.
To that end, he bought a knife with a 15 centimeter switchblade and drove to Jericho, where he took a cab to the Dead Sea in an attempt to stab and kill Jews.
During a conversation with the cab driver on his way there, he was told that this time of year there aren't many tourists on the beaches of the Dead Sea. The defendant was therefore concerned he would be easily distinguishable and would not be able to commit the terror act.
This made him reconsider his plan and go back to Jericho, where he disposed of the knife and returned home to Nablus.
Later on, in March 2017, during his continued pursuit to kill Jews, the 19 year old decided to come to Tel Aviv, believing that there he would be able to harm many more Jews than in his previous plan.
The defendant had planned in great detail his entry to Israel and trip to Tel Aviv. He turned to a travel agency that organizes planed trips to Israel and issues one-day passes to Israeli territory.
To achieve his goal, he studied the area he chose for his attack through Google Maps.
Additionally, he acquired a cold weapon—his belt buckle, which he thoroughly honed to make it as sharp as possible and to avoid being caught during security checks. He also bought a bag and comfortable clothes.
On April 23, 2017, the terrorist entered Israel using the one-day entry pass issued to him and left his travel group during the first bus stop near Yarkon Park.
He then started looking for victims to execute his plan. He began walking towards the sea, where he stabbed a 70-year-old man with his belt buckle. He also punched and kicked the man before fleeing the area.
Later on, Agbar entered the lobby of a Tel Aviv hotel and then picked up a cutter that was placed on one of the tables and continued searching for more potential victims.
He entered the antiques store in the hotel lobby and stabbed a woman in the neck, which resulted in him cutting off a part of her ear. The woman took a step back as her husband hit the terrorist and pushed him away.
As the defendant ran towards the lobby of the hotel, trying to escape the approaching husband of his victim, he encountered a hotel employee, who also attempted to shove him away.
The terrorist decided to strike the employee on the head with the cutter he had picked up earlier, and then he tried to escape from the hotel.
At the same time, the husband blocked the revolving door at the entrance. As a result, the terrorist hit and injured the husband as well.
Agbar then ran into the glass door and shattered it. Outside the hotel, he was apprehended by the police.
Racheli Hazan-Feldman, the criminal prosecutor from the Tel Aviv District Attorney's Office, said Agbar had "decided to embark on his journey to kill Jewish people strictly because of their faith. He hoped he would either die or get captured during his killing spree and would turn into either a martyr or a hero."
