Bedouin leaders have condemned the “despicable” terrorist attack committed on Sunday by a young Bedouin man at the Beersheba bus station.
The Times of Israel reported more:
“Following [Sunday’s] terrorist attack at the Beersheba central bus station in which two innocent people lost their lives, we utterly and unreservedly condemn this despicable act and reject violence of any sort,” Hura Mayor Mohammed Alnabari said in a statement as community leaders gathered for an urgent meeting.
“Although, contrary to reports in the media, the terrorist is not a resident of Hura, we condemn this act on behalf of the entire Bedouin society and wish to make clear that you cannot be both a terrorist and a citizen of the country; the two are inherently contradictory,” he continued.
“We call upon all the residents of the Negev, Arabs and Jews, to preserve and protect the relations between the two peoples for the benefit of us all. We pray for better and quieter days in which all the citizens of the country live together in peace.”
Although 21-year-old assailant Muhanad Alukabi told a co-worker that he was a strong believer in the Islamic State terrorist group, his father Khalil disassociated himself from his son’s actions. “This is an individual act carried out by my son on his own accord,” he said. “We are against violence.”
Nuri Alukabi, another relative of the terrorist, indicated that the family had grievances toward the state, “but that does not justify violence.”
“His family is not known as a family that encourages acts of terrorism,” Talal al-Krenawi, the mayor of the nearby Bedouin town of Rahat, told Channel 2. “The head of their family, Sheikh Alukabi, helped establish this state. This is why we are even more shocked; we really cannot comprehend it.” The Bedouin community opposes terror, al-Krenawi said, adding that “We live in the Negev, Bedouins and Jews, as brothers.”
In contrast to the Bedouin leaders, Palestinian Football Association chairman and possible Palestinian Authority presidential successor Jibril Rajoub called the terror attack an “act of heroism.”
[Photo: Cities Summit Tel-Aviv / YouTube ]