Mother of Nashat Milhem says security forces threatening to demolish their home; police officially accuse him of killing Lod cabbie
A manhunt for a suspected Arab Israeli gunman who killed three people in Tel Aviv last week continued Wednesday, with reports indicating that he may be hiding out in the Palestinian territories.
According to Channel 2 television, Israeli security officials increasingly believe Nashat Milhem may be in the West Bank, although details of the search for him remain under a gag order.
Milhem allegedly killed two people in a shooting attack at a Tel Aviv bar on Friday, New Year’s Day, before fleeing and disappearing. Police on Wednesday evening officially named Milhem as the alleged killer of Bedouin taxi driver Amin Shaaban some 60 minutes after the bar attack.
Milhem’s mother said Wednesday that security forces were threatening to demolish their home.
“They threatened as if they intended to demolish our house if we don’t disclose the place where he is hiding,” she said. “I told them we do not know where he has gone.”
Police descended in large numbers Wednesday morning on an unnamed Arab town in a northern area of Israel known as the Triangle, as the manhunt for Milhem entered its sixth day.
Since the attacks, Milhem, from the northern town of Arara, has remained at large. Authorities have warned he is armed, dangerous and capable of striking again.
According to Israel Radio, officers on Wednesday morning searched the homes of relatives of Milhem in one of the towns in the Triangle, but the hunt came up empty. A conflicting Channel 10 report Tuesday evening said that police believed Milhem had fled to northern Israel.
Earlier reports said that police do not know where he is, although law enforcement were looking into the possibility that he fled to the West Bank. Israel Police chief Roni Alsheich indicated at a press conference Tuesday that Milhem was no longer believed to be in Tel Aviv, although he refused to elaborate.
The attorney representing Mohammed Milhem, the father of the suspected gunman who is himself a suspect in the case, said Tuesday that his client believed his son was in the West Bank.
According to the Channel 10 report, it would be more difficult for Israeli authorities to track down Milhem in the north than in the West Bank, where the Shin Bet security service has many informants. Police assessments quoted by the TV station said Milhem had likely received assistance both before and after Friday’s attacks.
The first attack Friday took place outside the Simta bar on Tel Aviv’s busy Dizengoff Street. Shift manager Alon Bakal, 26, and patron Shimon Ruimi, 30, were killed in a hail of bullets as the suspected gunman opened fire with a submachine gun he allegedly stole from his father. Seven people were wounded. Fleeing the scene, police said, Milhem shot dead Shaaban after hailing and escaping in his taxi.
The father’s lawyer, Nechami Feinblatt, said his client had been in touch with his son after he carried out the attacks. The elder Milhem was remanded for two days earlier in the day as a suspected accessory to the killing, and for allegedly obstructing the investigation. Five other suspects, including several other relatives, were also remanded by the Haifa Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday. A brother of the suspect, Jaudat Milhem, was freed after from detention Wednesday.
The father’s lawyer, Nechami Feinblatt, said his client had been in touch with his son after he carried out the attacks. The elder Milhem was remanded for two days earlier in the day as a suspected accessory to the killing, and for allegedly obstructing the investigation. Five other suspects, including several other relatives, were also remanded by the Haifa Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday. A brother of the suspect, Jaudat Milhem, was freed after from detention Wednesday.
Speaking to Channel 10 on Tuesday evening, Feinblatt — who noted he has been representing Mohammed Milhem for years — said police and the Shin Bet were aware of the phone call.
“I know the father did call a certain number, and told police about it,” his attorney said. “Without elaborating, there was some contact, which the police and Shin Bet are aware of.”
Feinblatt told the TV station that his client had “certainly not” helped the suspected shooter escape. He said Mohammed Milhem’s communication with his son was known to police on Friday, though he was freed before being rearrested Tuesday.
“The truth is, the Shin Bet is desperate,” Feinblatt said, and “when there is such a crisis in the agency,” they arrest people to gather information.
Feinblatt said family members of the suspected killer maintain they are innocent. He said the family was clinging to the hope that Nashat Milhem was hired to kill the bar patrons by Israeli criminals, and that the shooting wasn’t a terror attack.
As reported by The Times of Israel