Kiryat Arba man indicted for attempted murder of terrorist

David Mizrahi tried to kill a Palestinian who, minutes before, had attacked his wife.

By DAN IZENBERG
311_gavel (photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski)
311_gavel
(photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski)
The state on Monday indicted Kiryat Arba resident David Mizrahi for attempted murder after he tried to kill a Palestinian who, minutes before, had attacked his wife and a passerby with a knife and an ax.
The trial will be be held in Jerusalem District Court.
The incident occurred on the afternoon of November 26, 2009, when Wasim Masauda entered a gas station at the entrance to Kiryat Arba, where Mizrahi owned a Yellow brand convenience store. Mizrahi’s wife, Tamar, was behind the cash register. Masauda stabbed her in the throat with a knife and ran outside, where he found Moshe Salfati fueling his car.
Masauda struck Salfati in the back of the neck with an ax, but Salfati struggled with his assailant and wrested the ax away.
The gas station’s security guard saw what was happening and shot at Masauda, who ran 20 meters and collapsed. Three soldiers heard the shots and rushed to the scene. Seeing Masauda lying on the ground, they aimed their rifles at him. Masauda suddenly got to his feet and started running toward them, shouting “Allahu akbar.” The soldiers opened fire, at which point Masauda collapsed and lay still.
In the meantime, Mizrahi, who was not present, heard about the attack and rushed to the scene. According to the charge sheet, he began looking for the assailant with the intention of killing him. The first person he saw was Salfati, who was holding a cloth to his neck wound. Thinking Salfati was the assailant, he kicked him in the face.
When Mizrahi realized his mistake, he got in his car and continued searching.
After finding Masauda lying on the ground, he ran him over. He then drove the car backwards and forwards over Masauda several times. Finally, bystanders who had surrounded the Palestinian pulled Mizrahi out of the car and ended the incident. Masauda survived.