A 21-year old pizzeria worker was reportedly stabbed to death in Petah Tikva overnight Tuesday-Wednesday, on Independence Day, after asking a group of teenagers not to use party spray in the restaurant.
The events took place around 1 a.m. Yemanu Binyamin Zelka was on shift at a Pizza Hut restaurant in the Kfar Ganim neighborhood that night, according to a report in the Walla news site, when he approached a group of teenagers who were acting disruptively and using the party spray popular with children on the holiday.
After Zelka politely asked them to stop, the teens waited outside for him to finish his shift, and then attacked him when he left the building, according to Hebrew media reports and a statement by Petah Tikva Mayor Rami Greenberg.
The Walla report also said that some 10 youths had been involved in the assault, though it indicated one of them was primarily responsible for the lethal stabbing.
One teen had been arrested in relation to the case, the Kan public broadcaster reported on Friday, adding that further details have been barred from publication because the suspect is a minor.
Two men were reportedly stabbed in Netanya on the night of Independence Day in a separate incident.
“The wounded was lying unconscious, suffering from stab wounds to his body,” medics from the Magen David Adom ambulance service said in its report on the incident.
“We gave him first-aid, including stopping the bleeding, and we put him on a mobile ICU and transferred him to a hospital in severe condition,” the medics said.
Zelka succumbed to his wounds at Beilinson Hospital on Thursday night.
Following the incident, residents of Petah Tikva lit memorial candles and placed messages outside the restaurant in the 21-year-old’s memory.
“Binyamin loved everyone, and everyone loved him,” Tamir Zilber, the manager of the Pizza Hut, told Kan. “He was with us from age 16, he was special. Shifts with Binyamin were an experience.” Zilber noted that the victim was also a counselor in the Bnei Akiva youth movement.
Petah Tikva Mayor Rami Greenberg, in a statement Thursday, said: “There are no words to describe the magnitude of the shock and the pain of the loss of a young life in circumstances this cruel and difficult.”
“The young people who attacked and murdered will be caught by the police and made to stand trial,” the mayor vowed. “There is no consolation here, but there is a clear commitment to justice.”
“I call on all young people – stay away from violence! There is no heroism in it, only destruction. One moment of anger can destroy whole lives – of the victim, of the family and of the attacker himself,” he said.
To parents, he urged: “Talk with your children. Get involved, get interested, check where they’re spending time and with whom, especially at night. We all share responsibility.”
Greenberg said the city would use all the tools at its disposal, including education, information and law enforcement, to stem violence.
First Lady Michal Herzog mourned Zelka on Friday, saying: “It’s unimaginable how lives are taken. This incident is being investigated, and I trust the police to do their utmost and best to investigate it speedily. The responsibility to prevent the next incident is on us — society and parents — and on law enforcement bodies as well.”
Merav Ben-Ari, of Yesh Atid, blamed the police under far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir for lax enforcement.
“The police are engaging in nonsense, and people are paying with their lives. Women are murdered in their homes, young people from the Arab community are shot in the street, and this time Yamenu paid the price,” Ben-Ari wrote on social media.
MK Gilad Kariv, of The Democrats, wrote on Friday: “Can someone explain to me why Ben Gvir and the police commissioner didn’t show up yesterday to the site of the horrific murder in Petah Tikva, upon hearing of the death of Yemanu Binyamin Zelka?”
“In truth, we can all explain it. The blood that flows on our streets simply does not interest Ben Gvir and the group of sycophants and incompetents who surround him,” he said.
And hawkish Yisrael Beytenu chief MK Avigdor Liberman wrote: “There is a total loss of control here, and as a society we cannot allow this to fall from the agenda.”
Israel has been suffering a years-long violent crime wave, mostly impacting the Arab community, of which Zelka was not a member.
