The 1989 Purim stabbing attack was the random stabbing of Israeli civilians in

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

on the

Jewish holiday Jewish holidays, also known as Jewish festivals or ''Yamim Tovim'' ( he, ימים טובים, , Good Days, or singular , in transliterated Hebrew []), are holidays observed in Judaism and by JewsThis article focuses on practices of mainstre ...

of Purim on 21 March 1989. The attacker was an Arab construction worker. Two civilians were murdered and one severely injured in the attack.

Attack

Muhammad Zakut stabbed three Israeli with a commando knife as he shouted "

Allahu Akbar Allah (; ar, الله, translit=Allāh, ) is the common Arabic word for God. In the English language, the word generally refers to God in Islam. The word is thought to be derived by contraction from '' al- ilāh'', which means "the god", an ...

" (God is great). One of the victims, Kurt Moshe Schallinger, 73, was killed as he left his car on a Tel Aviv street full of children in costume, celebrating the holiday of Purim. During his interrogation, Zakut said his goal was to "stab in the neck the first Israeli his eyes fell on." He murdered two Israelis and severely injured a third in the back of his head and his spinal cord before being caught. One of the victims was an elderly scientist on his way home from delivering mishloah manot. The other was the head of the Environment Association in Tel Aviv.Israelis angry as Clinton equates Mideast victims prisoners' children likened to those of targets of terrorism
The Baltimore Sun

Assailant

Prior to the attack, the assailant, Muhammad Zakut, worked as a construction worker and later in a laundromat in Tel Aviv. Zakut received a life sentence, but on 18 October 2011, he was released to Gaza 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 1,027 prisoners — almost all Palest ...

between Israel and

Hamas Hamas (, ; , ; an acronym of , "Islamic Resistance Movement") is a Palestinian Sunni-Islamic fundamentalist, militant, and nationalist organization. It has a social service wing, Dawah, and a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Bri ...

.List Of Security Prisoners Released
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tel Aviv Stabbing Attack 1989 Purim stabbing attack Terrorist incidents in Israel in the 1980s Terrorist incidents in Asia in 1989 Terrorist attacks attributed to Palestinian militant groups Deaths by stabbing in Israel Terrorist incidents involving knife attacks 1989 murders in Israel 1980s in Tel Aviv

Attack

Assailant

See also

References