At least four Israelis were wounded in a stabbing attack carried out by a Moroccan tourist in Israel’s coastal city of Tel Aviv on Tuesday, January 21. The attacker, who was identified as Abdel Aziz Qadi (29) was immediately shot dead at the scene by Israeli security personnel. Qadi was identified via an ID card found on him, showing that he was originally from Morocco and had permanent residency in the United States.
The attack is yet another indication of the weakness of Israel’s security system, which was massively breached in the October 7 attacks and has continued to show its fragility ever since. According to media reports, Israel’s Immigration Authority at the Ben Gurion Airport wanted to prevent Qadi from entering Israel by transferring him to officers of the Israel Security Agency (known as Shin Bet) at the airport for questioning. However, the officers allowed the Moroccan national into Israel.
The Shin Bet clarified on Tuesday that it had conducted an assessment prior to allowing Qadi to enter Israel, with no security concerns or red flags raised to justify denying his entry. “He underwent a security assessment that included his interrogation as well as additional checks, at the end of which it was decided that there was no information that established grounds to prevent his entry into Israel for security reasons,” the Shin Bet said in a statement.
Now, the agency will investigate the case. On Wednesday, January 22, Interior Minister Moshe Arbel asked Shin Bet Director Ronen Bar, “to investigate the serious incident and draw lessons from it as soon as possible.”
Resistance groups frame the attack as “a natural response”
Palestinian resistance groups hailed the attack as a “heroic operation”. The Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) mourned Abdul Aziz Qadi, stating that his attack “proves once again that the tide of resistance continues and is increasing as long as the occupation and its crimes and aggression continue.”
Hamas added that the operation came as “a natural response hours after dozens of martyrs ascended during the occupation’s aggression on Jenin, in a clear message that blood is for blood and that the hand of the resistance will strike with all its might deep into this usurping entity.”
Meanwhile, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad Movement said in a statement that the attack is “an affirmation of the solidarity of the Arab and Muslim peoples around their central cause in Palestine,” asserting that the free people of the Arab Muslim nations “will not let the crimes of the occupation pass without punishment, and will pursue it from where it does not expect.”
Wave of retaliatory attacks following Israel’s genocide
Qadi’s attack is one among a series of similar operations which were carried out in response to the death and oppression inflicted on the Palestinian people by the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) since October 7, 2023. Some of these took place within the Palestinian territories occupied by Israel, while others were launched at Israel’s border with Jordan.
In April 2024, Turkish tourist Hasan Saklanan carried out a stabbing operation in the Old City of Jerusalem, wounding an Israeli policeman.
Saklanan’s attack was followed by two separate shooting attacks, which were carried out by Jordanian nationals in September and October 2024, at the Israeli-Jordanian borders.
The first attack was carried out by Jordanian truck driver Maher al-Jazi at the Karameh border crossing, also called the Allenby Bridge, in which three Israeli border guards were killed. The second attack was carried out by Jordanian nationals Amer Qawas and Hossam Abu Ghazalah, who crossed into occupied Palestine near the Dead Sea, then opened fire on Israeli soldiers, injuring two of them.
The surge in such attacks suggests that Israel’s and the United States’ efforts towards normalization with people across the region have been in vain. It also sends a message to Israel that it will never achieve security as long as it continues to deny Palestinians theirs.