The ongoing murder investigations surrounding the horrific acts of recent days in Eretz Yisrael continue to dominate the mainstream media. The autopsy of Leonard Arik Karp, who was brutally beaten to death on Tel Aviv’s Tel Baruch Beach on Friday night has been completed and police released a statement “the findings of the post mortem will not assist the defendants in the case”, signaling the cause of death is in line with police suspicions. Most of the suspects in the case, Israeli Arabs from Jaljulya, are alleged to have beaten the 59-year-old victim to death, with police indicating at least some of the suspects were intoxicated at the time. One of the suspects in remand is a female IDF soldier.

Karp was buried in Petach Tikvah on Sunday evening.

A gag order remains on the case, as well as the case surrounding the unidentified partially decomposed body found in an abandoned Beit Dagan building. The body was found handcuffed according to the limited information released to the media, with some reports indicating the body was there for about a week at least. There are growing fears among the friends and neighbors of Refael Mirilishvilli, a member of the Lod Chabad community who disappeared about 4 weeks ago. For reasons that are not being disclosed, the family believes the body is that of Refael.

State Prosecutor Moshe Lador released an open letter to the media, calling on citizens not to lose faith in police and the system in light of the horrific murders that plagued Israel in recent weeks. Lador stated the system is still working and citizens must continue believing in the system and law-enforcement agencies.

In a related matter, Interior Minister weapons licensing officials are reporting a sharp increase in gun applications, apparently a direct response to the reported sharp increase in homicides.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)