The killing of a 19-year-old Israeli woman by a Palestinian suspect near Jerusalem last week was politically motivated, Israel’s internal security agency says.
The Shin Bet issued a statement Sunday saying that after questioning Palestinian suspect Arafat Erfaiyeh, the agency believed Ori Ansbacher’s killing was “nationalistic.”
Ansbacher was volunteering at a youth centre in Jerusalem last Thursday when she disappeared after walking in the woods. Her body was found later that day. Most details of the case remain under police gag order.
Israeli forces arrested Erfaiyeh, a resident of the West Bank city of Hebron, in Ramallah on Saturday.
Israeli media reports say he faces charges of murder and rape. He was brought to the Magistrate’s Court in Jerusalem on Monday.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu paid his respects to Ansbacher’s family at their West Bank settlement home on Sunday.