“Milhem had previously spent four years in prison for assaulting an Israeli soldier during an attempt to snatch his gun, and was described as mentally unstable by a former lawyer.” Even in Israel jihad killers are assumed to be “mentally unstable.” No one wants to confront the ugly reality of the motivating ideology behind all this.
“New Year’s Day terrorist planned to attack Tel Aviv daycares,” by Ben Hartman, Jerusalem Post, March 13, 2016:
Terrorist Nashat Milhem had planned an attack on kindergartens in Tel Aviv, Police said Sunday, as they released their findings of an investigation into the attacks on New Year’s Day in Tel Aviv.
News of the Milhem’s plan to attack daycare centers was included in a 6-part Police report sent by power point to reporters on Sunday, which was compiled in cooperation with the Shin Bet. The report covered a series of controversial aspects of the week-long manhunt for Milhem, including police failure to put out a picture of Milhem until 36 hours after the attack, the shortage of clear messages to the public from the senior police leadership, and news that the police failed to properly heed a 100 dispatch call from witnesses who stated they saw Milhem heading north on a bus to Wadi Ara shortly after the killing.
Police said in their findings that they did determine there were deficiencies in how the 100 dispatch center handled calls by two sisters hours after the attack who said they saw Milhem heading north to Wadi Ara on a bus, but that it didn’t negatively affect the investigation. According to a senior police official, by then police were already searching for Milhem and his accomplices in his Wadi Ara village of Ar’ara. That said, he did admit that they were only able to actually confirm he was there on Tuesday, meaning that it was only five days after the 100 calls were placed that they were able to prove he was in the village.
The report added that they learned that there were failures in how the 100 dispatch centers from different areas share information, and that they need to improve their technology in order to make the system more effective.
The police report said they did insufficiently inform the public about the ongoing manhunt and how they should conduct themselves, but said it was only a matter of hours, not days. On the day of the shooting, no police briefing was given by a senior officer at the scene of the attack until hours later, which police admitted Sunday was problematic.
Public and media criticism however was focused on the fact that it wasn’t until Sunday night, 48 hours later that police put out an official statement on the attack, and only five days after the attack that National Police Commissioner Roni Alsheich addressed the public, saying that it was possible to ease up on the pressure in Tel Aviv. Alsheich’s comments came after police were able to confirm Milhem was no longer in Tel Aviv, though that information was not contained in his statement to the press, which came after days of panic in the Tel Aviv area, during which many parents kept their children out of school out of fear that a terrorist was on the loose.
Controversy also circled around the police failure to put out a photo of the suspect to the public, at the same time he was the most wanted man in the country. Within hours though, the press had already put out a picture, which also circled widely on social media days before police sent out a picture.
Police said that they wanted to wait until they were absolutely certain they were putting out the right picture and didn’t want to make any mistakes. In addition, they initially suspected that Milhem’s brother was responsible for the attack. They also explained away the gap of time by saying that in the end, the picture that was first put out by the public and the press was the best and most current picture regardless, implying that even if they had put out a picture instantly, it wouldn’t have been any better or helped the investigation more than the one the press put out.
On January 1st, Milhem pulled a submachine gun from a bag and gunned down Israelis Alon Bakal and Shimon Ruimi outside the “HaSimta” bar in Tel Aviv. He fled on foot and near the scene of the attack flagged down a cab driver from Lod, Amin Sha’aban who he had drive him to north Tel Aviv, where he murdered him. He then boarded a bus on the coastal highway, which he took northbound to reach his village, Ar’ara in the Wadi Ara.
Milhem was killed a week later, after he reportedly fired on police during a raid on his hideout in Ar’ara.
Milhem had previously spent four years in prison for assaulting an Israeli soldier during an attempt to snatch his gun, and was described as mentally unstable by a former lawyer….