Beitar Jerusalem owner survives attempted assassination outside his home

Tabib told reporters that he believes the shooting is linked to soccer saying “these were people linked to soccer, there is no connection to business.”

By BEN HARTMAN, ALLON SINAI
Eli Tabib (photo credit: DANI MARON/MAARIV)
Eli Tabib
(photo credit: DANI MARON/MAARIV)
Beitar Jerusalem FC owner Eli Tabib was shot and lightly wounded outside his home in Kfar Shmaryahu on Saturday night in what appears to be another botched attempt on his life.
Tel Aviv police said Tabib had just pulled up at his house and was sitting in his car when a shooter stepped off a motorcycle, walked up and fired three shots at him, with one bullet hitting Tabib in the hand. The shooter then ran to the waiting motorcycle, and he and the driver fled into the night.
Tabib was taken to hospital with light wounds to his hand and was released hours later.
As he was leaving the hospital, Tabib told reporters that he believes the shooting was linked to soccer, saying “these were people linked to soccer, there is no connection to business,” adding that Israeli “soccer has become bankrupt.”
Police aren’t as sure as Tabib what the motive was for the shooting or who the gunman was, and said on Sunday they haven’t ruled out any possible motive and that they have not made an assessment that it was linked to soccer.
In October 2013, assailants linked to Israeli organized crime placed a hand grenade outside Tabib’s home as part of a plot to extort hundreds of thousands of dollars from him. The grenade was stuck to the gate of his house and was meant to explode when he opened it, but it malfunctioned.
The suspects in that case were members of a very wellknown criminal organization in Israel and had been trying to extort money from Tabib soon after he became the owner of Beitar.
In that case too Tabib said that he believed the people who targeted him did so because of some interest related to soccer, contrary to the police.
Tabib didn’t say so in as many words, but alluded that it was Hapoel Tel Aviv fans who tried to kill him on Saturday. Tabib was the owner of Hapoel until July 2012, leaving the club after protests by the supporters.
Tabib was convicted last June of assaulting a minor and of disruption of justice at the Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court. He was found guilty of attacking a Hapoel fan with his bodyguard outside his home in March 2012 and erasing the footage of the incident from his computer after it was captured by his security cameras.
The sentencing is scheduled for Monday


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israeli organized crime