The Murder of Ofir Rahum was a shooting attack which occurred on 17 January 2001, in which Palestinian militants from the

Tanzim ''Tanzim'' ( ', "The Organization") is a militant faction of the Palestinian Fatah movement. Led by Marwan Barghouti, who is serving life sentences for murder in Israel, it gained prominence during the Second Intifada. Tanzim operates at t ...

faction of

Fatah Fatah ( ; ), formally the Palestinian National Liberation Movement (), is a Palestinian nationalist and Arab socialist political party. It is the largest faction of the confederated multi-party Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and ...

killed 16-year-old Israeli high school student Ofir Rahum on the outskirts of

Ramallah Ramallah ( , ; ) is a Palestinians, Palestinian city in the central West Bank, that serves as the administrative capital of the State of Palestine. It is situated on the Judaean Mountains, north of Jerusalem, at an average elevation of abov ...

. The murder was planned and initiated by 24-year-old Mona Jaud Awana from

Bir Nabala Bir Nabala (; ) is a Palestinian enclave town in the West Bank located eight kilometers northeast of Jerusalem, in Palestine. In mid-year 2006, it had an estimated population of 6,100 residents. By 2017, the population was 6,004 Three Bedouin t ...

. After many weeks in which Mona conducted long private conversations in English with Rahum through the instant messenger program

ICQ ICQ was a cross-platform instant messaging (IM) and VoIP client founded in June 1996 by Yair Goldfinger, Sefi Vigiser, Amnon Amir, Arik Vardi, and Arik's father, Yossi Vardi. The name ICQ derives from the English phrase "I Seek You". Originally ...

, during which she masqueraded as a Jewish immigrant from

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

named Sally, Mona managed to gain his confidence and get him to meet with her in

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

, supposedly for romantic purposes. When he arrived for the meeting, she drove him through the border control into the Palestinian-controlled territory and towards a secluded area on the outskirts of Ramallah where Palestinian terrorists shot him at close range, with Mona standing aside and watching.

Background

Mona Awana, later arrested by the Israeli police, stated that on the day of the lynching of two Israeli soldiers in Ramallah in late 2000 by a

Palestinian Palestinians () are an Arab ethnonational group native to the Levantine region of Palestine. *: "Palestine was part of the first wave of conquest following Muhammad's death in 632 CE; Jerusalem fell to the Caliph Umar in 638. The indigenous p ...

crowd A crowd is as a group of people that have gathered for a common purpose or intent. Examples are a Demonstration (people), demonstration, a Sport, sports event, or a looting (classified in sociology as an acting crowd). A crowd may also simply ...

, she decided to abduct an Israeli and murder him. Mona had been present at the Ramallah lynching, and said she was "excited" by what she saw. Soon after, she began contacting Israelis on the Internet. Awana chatted with several Israeli teenagers on

chat rooms The term chat room, or chatroom (and sometimes group chat; abbreviated as GC), is primarily used to describe any form of synchronous conferencing, occasionally even asynchronous conferencing. The term can thus mean any technology, ranging from ...

and engaged in an online romance with Rahum. In conversations over several months she pressed for a meeting in

. When Rahum suggested a venue closer to his home, she claimed she had no car but promised to arrange for his return by 5 pm. Employing sexual innuendos, she persuaded him to meet her. Two days before the murder, she wrote, "You don't know how much I am waiting for Wednesday." When they met, she convinced him to accompany her to Ramallah.

Murder

On 17 January 2001, Mona and Rahum met at the central bus station in Jerusalem, spoke briefly in English, and then got on a taxi which drove to the el-Ram intersection. From there they drove in a Ford Escort with Israeli license plates, through the border control into the Palestinian-controlled territory and towards the outskirts of Ramallah. When Rahum questioned Mona why they were traveling through Arab-dominant areas, Mona replied that "that's the way it is in Jerusalem, which has both Arab and Jewish neighborhoods." At 11:30, Mona stopped the car at a secluded area on the outskirts of Ramallah next to a car with Palestinian license plates, at a location which was chosen in advance with the Palestinian militant cell. Mona immediately jumped out of the vehicle, while the militants, Hassan Alkadi and Abdul Fatah Doleh, armed with rifles, got out of their car and shot Rahum from close range more than 15 times, while all along Mona was standing aside and watching. Afterwards, the assailants threw Rahum's body into the trunk and fled to Ramallah. The assailants secretly buried Rahum's body in the al-Tira neighborhood in Ramallah.

Investigation

After Rahum did not return home from school, his family began looking for him, and found out that he did not go to school that day. Following further investigation by the Israeli

Shin Bet The Israel Security Agency (ISA; , (GSS); ), better known by the Hebrew acronyms, acronyms Shabak (; ; ) or Shin Bet (from the abbreviation of , "Security Service"), is Israel's internal Security agency, security service. Its motto is "''Magen ...

security agency and the Israeli International Crimes Unit, it was revealed that Rahum corresponded with Mona through the Internet and that she pressed Rahum to meet with her in

, and that she promised to have intimate relations with him. Meanwhile, an undercover Israeli

Duvdevan Unit Unit 217, frequently called Duvdevan (), is a ''mistaʽaravim'' unit in the Commando Brigade of the Israel Defense Forces. It is notable for its undercover operations in urban areas, during which its operators often wear civilian clothing t ...

force, in conjunction with the Shin Bet, raided Mona's house in Bir Nabala and managed to apprehend Mona. She was later interrogated by the Shin Bet. On 18 January, Palestinian security forces located Rahum's body and brought it to the Ramallah hospital. A short time later, his body was transferred to Israel. Although Mona initially refused to cooperate with the investigators, she broke down after about four weeks and gave a full confession of her involvement in the murder, and revealed the identities of her partners in crime – the senior Ramallah-area Fatah Tanzim operatives Hassan Alkadi and Abdul Fatah Doleh of

Beitunia Beitunia (), also Bitunya, is a Palestinian city located west of Ramallah and north of Jerusalem, in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate of Palestine, in the central West Bank. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the ci ...

Aftermath

The murder caused great shock amongst the Israeli public. The Israeli Prime Minister and Defense Minister

Ehud Barak Ehud Barak ( ; born Ehud Brog; 12 February 1942) is an Israeli former general and politician who served as the Prime Minister of Israel, prime minister from 1999 to 2001. He was leader of the Israeli Labor Party, Labor Party between 1997 and 20 ...

stated in response to the murder that the attack was a "heinous crime committed by vile killers, lacking human dignity. The Security forces will not spare any effort to reach the murderers so that they would be punished severely." Thousands of people attended Rahum's funeral which was held on 19 January at noon in the

Ashkelon Ashkelon ( ; , ; ) or Ashqelon, is a coastal city in the Southern District (Israel), Southern District of Israel on the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean coast, south of Tel Aviv, and north of the border with the Gaza Strip. The modern city i ...

cemetery. Rahum's gravestone was built in the form of a personal computer. Israel's Permanent Representative to the United Nations wrote to the Secretary-General to protest the "recent acts of Palestinian terrorism directed against Israeli civilians". Awana was tried, and eventually convicted of murder in February 2003 and sentenced to life imprisonment. She was later transferred to the Neveh Tirza prison in 2006 after attacking another inmate. Though the Israeli government initially said that Awana would not be part of the deal, she was released to Gaza on 18 October 2011 as part of the

Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange The Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange (; ), also known as Wafa al-Ahrar () ("Faithful to the free"), followed a 2011 agreement between Israel and Hamas to release Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in exchange for 1027 prisoners — almost all Palestinia ...

between Israel and Hamas. Awana is now residing in exile in

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

Abbas-Awana meeting

On 20 December 2011, Palestinian leader

Mahmoud Abbas Mahmoud Abbas (; born 15 November 1935), also known by the Kunya (Arabic), kunya Abu Mazen (, ), is a Palestinian politician who has been serving as the second president of Palestine and the President of the Palestinian National Authority, P ...

privately met Awana in

Ankara Ankara is the capital city of Turkey and List of national capitals by area, the largest capital by area in the world. Located in the Central Anatolia Region, central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5,290,822 in its urban center ( ...

, for which he was criticized by Israel. Abbas said that the release of the remaining Palestinian prisoners in Israel was at the top of the Palestinian agenda. An Israeli government spokesman said that the Israeli government was "disappointed" by this decision, and that "instead of promoting peace and reconciliation, the Palestinian leadership seems to be putting extremist murderers up on a pedestal. This raises serious questions as to their commitment and as to their desire to end the conflict."

References

External links

Israel's 'First Internet Murder'
- published on

Wired Wired may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * ''Wired'' (Jeff Beck album), 1976 * ''Wired'' (Hugh Cornwell album), 1993 * ''Wired'' (Mallory Knox album), 2017 * "Wired", a song by Prism from their album '' Beat Street'' * "Wired ...

on 19 January 2001
Woman arrested after Israeli youth lured to online death
– published on

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

on 20 January 2001
Israeli boy killed after love lure on internet
– published on

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

on 19 January 2001
Israelis Grieve as Youth Who Was Lured to His Death on the Internet Is Buried
– published on

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

on 20 January 2001
Another Tack: Ceremony or no ceremony
– published on

The Jerusalem Post ''The Jerusalem Post'' is an English language, English-language Israeli broadsheet newspaper based in Jerusalem, Israel, founded in 1932 during the Mandate for Palestine, British Mandate of Mandatory Palestine, Palestine by Gershon Agron as ''Th ...

on 24 April 2008 {{DEFAULTSORT:Rahum, Ofir Israeli children Israeli casualties in the Second Intifada Israeli murder victims People murdered in Palestine Deaths by firearm in the West Bank Cybercrime Terrorist incidents in the West Bank in 2001 2001 murders in Palestine Fatah attacks Child murder in Palestine Deaths by person in Palestine History of Ramallah January 2001 in Asia January 2001 crimes in Asia Children killed in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict