Israeli Police forces arrested over the weekend a Palestinian suspect, who according to the ‘Shin Bet’ Security Agency, “brutally murdered an Israeli woman in a forest on the outskirts of Jerusalem.” 19-year-old Ori Ansbacher, a resident of the West Bank settlement of Tekoa, was found naked and with multiple stab wounds in Jerusalem’s Ein Yael forest on Thursday. Police immediately launched an investigation into the brutal murder; and less than 48 hours after the Israeli victim was found, the special YAMAM police force located and arrested Arafat Irfaiya, a 29-year-old resident of the West Bank town of Hebron. Following a brief interrogation of the suspect, Irfaiya – who was identified as a member of the Islamist Hamas organization – confessed to killing Ori Ansbacher, and reconstructed the murder. Shortly thereafter, the Israeli Shin Bet Security Agency classified the deadly-incident as an act of terrorism.
Meanwhile, dozens of Israelis gathered in Jerusalem’s Zion Square, to protest the brutal murder of Ori Ansbacher. Mourners sang songs and lit candles in memory of the 19-year-old victim. “We came here to express our greatest sorrow for our Ori who’s light will not shine again, who was murdered… a horrifying death,” Jerusalem resident Yamit Abramov said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also referred to the brutal act of terror, vowing to settle accounts with all those who seek to harm Israel. During his weekly cabinet meeting, Netanyahu commended the security forces for locating and apprehending the murderer; and voiced the country’s “heartfelt condolences to the Ansbacher family in their terrible grief.” “I would like to commend the security forces that worked with exemplary speed and apprehended the murderer within several hours. Sooner or later, in this case sooner, the long arm of Israel reaches all those who harm us, and we settle accounts with them. On my behalf and the members of the government and the entire people of Israel, I would like to send our sincerest heartfelt condolences to the Ansbacher family in their terrible grief,” Benjamin Netanyahu said.
In addition to stepping up Israel’s preventative measures, in Jerusalem’s ongoing battle against terrorism; Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised during his cabinet meeting to implement a new law that will deduct “terrorist salaries” from taxes that Israel collects on behalf of the Palestinian Authority. “By the end of the week, the staff work necessary for implementing the law on deducting terrorists’ salaries will be completed. Next Sunday I will convene the cabinet and we will approve the necessary decision to deduct the funds. Let nobody doubt, the funds will be deducted,” Netanyahu said.
Under the new law, which was passed in July 2018, ‘money that would otherwise go to pay stipends to roughly 35,000 families of Palestinian terrorists will be automatically frozen in accordance with the Paris Protocol of 1994 — without the need for a special approval from the Israeli Cabinet.’ According to the law’s sponsors, the Palestinian Authority paid Palestinians who committed acts of terror over 4 billion shekels, which is equal to almost 970 million euros, over the past four years from its so-called “martyrs’ fund.”