The two victims of the shooting attack in central Tel Aviv Friday will be buried on Sunday, the Times of Israel reports.
Alon Bakal, 26, and Shimon Ruimi, 30, were murdered at around 2:30 p.m. when a shooter, identified as 29-year-old Nashat Milhem, opened fire at the Simta bar on Dizengoff Street, in one of the city’s most popular hubs for nightlife.
Bakal was a manager at the Simta bar, while Ruimi was there for a friend’s birthday.
Six more were wounded in the attack, and Milhem, who fled immediately afterwards, remains at large. The suspect hails from Arara, a village in the northern Israeli area of Wadi Ara, and was jailed for five years for an attack on an Israeli soldier in 2007.
Milhem’s father, who is a police volunteer, recognized his son after seeing video footage of the attack on the news, and called police. His brother, Jaudat, is currently being detained by police on suspicion of involvement in the crime.
The funeral of Bakal will take place in Carmiel at 3 p.m. Sunday. Ruimi will be buried in Ofakim, with his funeral also planned for 3 p.m.
Following the attack, Bakal’s father David eulogized his “very special” son, commenting on the fact that Israel is losing its young generation to the ongoing violence.
“We are losing our good kids,” he said, reports Walla. “[Alon] studied law and business management, he was a thriving and happy child. He lit up every place he went, he made everyone laugh. Have no doubt, he was a very special child. He was very special to us. Yesterday he sent me a message: ‘I am having fun, I love to live.’”
On Saturday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed a “dramatic” increase in police and security.
“We will dramatically increase law enforcement services in the Arab sector,” he said. “We will open new police stations, recruit more police officers, go into all the towns and demand of everyone loyalty to the laws of the state.”
“We all know there is wild incitement by radical Islam in the Arab sector,” he continued. “Incitement in mosques, incitement in the education system, incitement in social media. I will not accept two nations within Israel: a lawful nation for all its citizens and a (second) nation within a nation for some of its citizens, in pockets of lawlessness.
“Those times are over,” he stated. “Whoever wants to be Israeli must be fully Israeli — both in rights and in obligations. And the first and paramount obligation is to abide by the laws of the state.”
The prime minister concluded that Arab members of the Knesset should also “unequivocally” condemn Friday’s attack. “Murder is murder, it must be condemned and acted against by all sides,” he said.
