(VIDEO IN EXTENDED ARTICLE)

The mother of the Arab-Israeli terrorist Abd al-Karim Adel Asi, who murdered Rabbi Itamar Ben-Gal HY”D at a hitchhiking stop outside Ariel, on Tuesday, 20 Shevat, condemned his actions and called on him to turn himself in to the Israeli security forces.

The mother, a woman in her 40s, a resident of Haifa, said of her 19-year-old son who lives in Tel Aviv-Jaffa: “My son has no right to hurt anyone, and I condemn him and call on him to turn himself in because his act will not help anyone”. The stunned mom added, “he destroyed himself and destroyed everything.”

In a conversation with reporters at her home in Haifa, she added that in the past she had already noticed that her son was problematic and violent, and described that since the incident she had not stopped crying.

“Forty days after he was born they took him away from me, and only 16 years later did I see him. I did not believe it was my son, I want to continue the life I chose for myself, far from this.

Abd al-Karim was born to an Arab Israeli mother and a Palestinian father. During his lifetime, Abed al-Karim was transferred between Shechem, Haifa, and Jaffa, and was identified by welfare officials as a clear social case. As a result, he received ongoing assistance from a variety of social organizations, including Beit Hashanti in Tel Aviv.

On Monday, after brutally stabbing Rabbi Itamar Ben Gal at the entrance to the city of Ariel, he was deliberately run over by a car driven by a soldier who identified him but managed to escape with a car waiting for him in advance.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)