More than a month after 14-year-old shepherd Binyamin Achimeir was found murdered by Palestinian terrorists in Samaria, his family says they are still waiting for answers regarding the circumstances of his death.
“To this day, we as a family have no idea what happened at the murder scene,” Ofir Achimeir, Binyamin’s father, told a meeting of the Knesset subcommittee for Judea and Samaria on Thursday, decrying how the family has had to “chase after” the Israel Police to get any information on the case.
“We value the security services for everything they do, and it is important to us that they draw lessons from this incident for the future,” he added.
The discussion in Israel’s parliament was convened at the request of Religious Zionism Party lawmaker Tzvi Sukkot, who is seeking to devise a dedicated search procedure for missing persons in Judea and Samaria.
Recalling the 24-hour search after his son went missing while working as a shepherd at Gal Farm, located 17 miles northeast of Ramallah, Achimeir criticized the security services’ response to the incident.
“At about 4 p.m., I asked the security services if they managed to question the last guy who Bini [Binyamin] met at the farm; they told me they didn’t because they were searching for him and he wasn’t answering. I didn’t understand that. What do you mean he didn’t answer?” he asked.
Also on Thursday, Israeli media aired for the first time security camera footage showing the moments following the teen’s murder. The video shows the suspected terrorist Ahmed Duabsha brandishing a knife near the entrance to Gal Farm.
“The footage showing the terrorist casually wandering with a knife, waiting for his next victim, highlights a significant lapse. Real-time release of this footage could have expedited many processes,” said Sukkot.
Amichai Rachamim, the deputy head of the Binyamin Regional Council, which has jurisdiction over large parts of southern Samaria, said, “The terrorist in the footage, with a knife in hand, aimed to kill as many Jews as possible. He is emboldened by a supportive environment. The security system must act decisively to deter such attacks.”
Duabsha was apprehended by Israeli security services late last month during a raid in Duma, located just under two miles north of the farm. According to an Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) statement, the Palestinian tied himself to the attack during initial questioning.
According to data collected by authorities, Arab aggression and terrorism against Jewish shepherds have been on the rise in recent months.
“Jewish farmers are grazing their sheep in open areas; Arabs don’t like that, even if it happens in Area C [of Judea and Samaria, where Israeli communities are located]. They’re trying to stop them by using violence,” a local official in the Binyamin Region told JNS last year.
