In an interview with the Israeli media, a local worker who credits Ari Fuld with saving her life during the attack said that the terrorist cased the area before the murder, asking her and others if they spoke English.
By: United with Israel Staff
Falafel shop worker Hila Peretz came very close to becoming the second victim of the terrorist who stabbed Ari Fuld in the back last Sunday.
After stabbing the 45-year-old father of four, the terrorist, Khalil Jabarin, took off running, with Fuld using every ounce of strength left to chase the Jabarin down and fire his weapon, preventing further fatalities in an episode captured in a security camera video that has now gone viral.
Among the closest bystanders during the attack was Peretz, who credits Fuld’s courageous actions with saving her life.
In an interview with Times of Israel, Peretz explained that prior to the attack, Jabarin hung around her shop asking people if they “spoke English.”
According to Peretz, in retrospect it appeared that Jabarin was deliberately seeking an American to attack, since it was apparent that he spoke Hebrew and was not seeking an English-speaker to take his order in the falafel shop.
“There were other people in the area that he could have targeted first, but he chose Ari,” Peretz told the Times. “But he didn’t target [them], he must have wanted an American.”
Peretz also referred to footage of the attack, which showed that Jabarin stalked Fuld for close to a minute before stabbing the dual Israeli-US citizen in the back.
Peretz also told the Times she suspected the decision to target an American was connected to widespread disdain for US President Donald Trump among Palestinians, many of whom resent the US’ funding cuts. These cuts were precipitated by the Palestinian Authority’s refusal to stop providing salaries to terrorists and their families and their ongoing boycott of the US administration and any further peace talks with Israel.
Trump has also cut off all funding to the Palestinians’ dedicated UN agency, UNRWA, which Jerusalem and Washington accuse of massively inflating the number of Palestinian “refugees” as part of a ploy to hinder the peace process and generate a larger pool of aid money for Palestinian organizations.
For Peretz and the extended Fuld family, Palestinian hatred for Trump and Israeli civilians goes far beyond policy debates about aid money or peace negotiations.
In an interview soon after the attack, Peretz concluded, “[Fuld is] not just a hero. He gave his life for me.”