TEL AVIV – Psychological disorders are a recurring phenomenon behind attacks by Palestinian “lone wolf” terrorists – many of whom enter Israel legally using a family reunification law, Israeli security agency Shin Bet said on Wednesday.
The Shin Bet’s website cited the example of Fouad Tamimi, who wounded two Border Police officers in a shooting attack in eastern Jerusalem this month. The Shin Bet said Tamimi was a thief and a drug addict, and like other recent attackers was not linked to any terrorist group.
The agency also said that in the case of three terrorists who carried out attacks in March, they had either received resident status in Israel or were applying for it using a family reunification law.
“The family reunification process, which is based on humanitarian concerns, allows Palestinians with family in Israel, like Fouad Tamimi and Abed Almalak Hareb, to effortlessly enter Israel, a number of whom committed terror attacks in Israel,” the Shin Bet agency said.
Restrictions on the family reunification law have been met with heavy criticism on the left. The head of the leftwing Meretz party Zahava Gal-On said it was a “disgrace that stains the Israeli books of law.”
The website also cited the example of Fadwa Ahmad Abu Teir, a 50-year-old mother of five who was shot dead earlier this month while attempting a stabbing attack in the capital’s Old City. According to the Shin Bet, Abu Teir suffered from chronic depression.
A 14-year-old Palestinian girl reportedly had an argument with her parents before leaving home to stab Israeli soldiers in January, the Times of Israel reported. Many considered it a case of “suicide by cop.”
Halawa Alian shocked Israelis last year when she was caught on a CCTV camera (see above) calmly chatting to a security guard, only to suddenly take a knife out of her purse and attempt to stab him. According to her neighbors, Alian had many troubles at home and had been heard been arguing with her husband for months.
“Many recent terrorist attacks have been carried out amid an environment of wild incitement that originates with the Palestinian Authority and with terrorist organizations and, it turns out, also influences people with personality problems, such as Fouad Tamimi and Fadwa Ahmad Abu Teir, and pushes them to carry out terrorist attacks,” the security agency said.