Israel: Muslim who murdered Israeli teen is upper middle class American citizen

Shalabi is “relatively mature, 44, a father of seven, holds American citizenship, and a member of upper middle class.”

The common assumption that poverty causes terrorism, is just a call for Western nations to write more checks to governments of Muslim countries. It’s also demonstrably false. The New York Times reported that “not long after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001…Alan B. Krueger, the Princeton economist, tested the widespread assumption that poverty was a key factor in the making of a terrorist. Mr. Krueger’s analysis of economic figures, polls, and data on suicide bombers and hate groups found no link between economic distress and terrorism.”

CNS News noted in September 2013 that “according to a Rand Corporation report on counterterrorism, prepared for the Office of the Secretary of Defense in 2009, ‘Terrorists are not particularly impoverished, uneducated, or afflicted by mental disease. Demographically, their most important characteristic is normalcy (within their environment). Terrorist leaders actually tend to come from relatively privileged backgrounds.’ One of the authors of the RAND report, Darcy Noricks, also found that according to a number of academic studies, ‘Terrorists turn out to be more rather than less educated than the general population.’”

“Israeli security officials are trying to understand what motivated him to perpetrate the attack.”

If you guys don’t know by now, you’re never going to know.

“Inside Shin Bet’s manhunt for Tapuach Junction terrorist,” by Lilach Shoval, Israel Hayom, May 7, 2021 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):

As Yehuda Guetta, 19, was taking his final breaths at Rabin Medical Center in Petah Tikva on Wednesday, Israel Police counter-terror and Shin Bet security agency personnel were approaching the hideout of the terrorist Muntasir Shalabi in Silwad, and called for him to exit the building.

The surprised Shalabi came out with his hands raised, and after a brief interrogation in the field, he was transferred to a hospital for treatment and then to an undisclosed Shin Bet facility.

The terrorist attack at Tapuach Junction occurred at approximately 6 p.m. Sunday. Shalabi, who was driving, stopped near the hitchhiking spot at the junction and shot toward a group of students from Itamar Yeshiva. Two of them were critically wounded, one was lightly wounded.

The Shin Bet agents and Israel Police’s elite counter-terror troops launched their manhunt shortly after the attack. Eyewitnesses were questioned, the many closed-circuit cameras at the scene were examined, human intelligence sources were activated and a special command and control center was established. The Shin Bet promptly acquired relatively solid information about the attacker’s identity, Muntasir Shalabi, 44, from Turmusaya.

The Shin Bet also knew the location of the vehicle Shalabi had driven during the attack. Yet despite the temptation to approach the vehicle and run a forensic check on it, commanders opted to wait due to the risks involved, because the Shin Bet already had evidence pointing to Shalabi as the attacker.

Palestinians later torched the vehicle in an effort to erase the evidence. During their manhunt, security forces arrested 12 people suspected of aiding and abetting the terrorists, some of whom have already been released from custody….

Even at this early stage of the investigation, it is obvious that Shalabi does not fit the profile of the classic terrorist. He is relatively mature, 44, a father of seven, holds American citizenship, and a member of upper middle class.

Israeli security officials are trying to understand what motivated him to perpetrate the attack, as well as locate those who helped him escape and arrest them.