Police increasingly sure TA truck rampage was deliberate

Investigators believe their findings contradict driver's version of events, according to which a punctured tire caused him to lose control of vehicle.

By YAAKOV LAPPIN
tel aviv truck rampage_311 (photo credit: Yoel Miller)
tel aviv truck rampage_311
(photo credit: Yoel Miller)
Police and the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) are increasingly confident that the lethal Tel Aviv truck rampage on Sunday, in which a 22-year-old Arab Israeli driver collided with multiple vehicles and killed one man, was deliberate.
A media ban preventing the publication of the driver's name was lifted on Wednesday, and the suspect can now be named as Isa Islam, of Kfar Qasim. The incident took place on 'Nakba day,' on which Palestinians mourn the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948.
RELATED:Israel reopens Cairo embassy after ‘Nakba Day’ protestEditorial: Repeating the Nakba mistake
"Based on all the signs, and what we saw in Tel Aviv, the indications are that it was carried out deliberately," a police source told The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday.
The Israel Security Agency has been investigating Islam's motives, while police have reenacted the incident step by step.
Investigators believe their findings contradict Islam's version of events, according to which a punctured tire caused him to lose control of his vehicle.
The Tel Aviv Magistrate's Court extended Islam's custody by eight days on Monday.
The suspect's mother, who arrived at the court, told Channel 2 news on Monday, "You're only saying he carried out a terror attack because he is an Arab. This was an accident. He works with Israelis and Jews...my son is not like that."
The mother accused one female eye witness who said she heard Islam shout "Allahu Akbar" of "lying because she doesn't like Arabs. She is a liar. You can see on TV that this was an accident. He lost control of the steering wheel. The tire exploded."
Eye witnesses who saw the truck collide into several vehicles before ploughing into a bus in the oncoming lane outside of an elementary school told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday that the driver deliberately smashed into targets along a long stretch of the busy road.
Click for special Jpost coverage
Click for special Jpost coverage