A Sudanese citizen was arrested by the authorities in Ethiopia, after he attacked an Israel passenger during an internal flight in Africa and called on the rest of the passengers to lynch him, NRG reported Tuesday night.
The incident took place last Thursday. According to Arik, 54, an Israeli citizen working in Africa, he took a flight from Chad to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and during the flight, just before landing, was attacked by a Sudanese national, who tried to strangle him.
Arik said “the terrorist recognized me as an Israeli because I had a sticker with Hebrew writing on my laptop. He waited for the moment the lights were dimmed during landing, then attacked me. He shouted ‘Allahu Akbar, Itbah al Yahud’ — God is great, kill the Jews. He had a metallic object in his hand, not a knife, with which he tried to hurt me. He cause me to bleed from my head, nothing serious. Then he threw off him the flight attendant who came to my aid.”
Arik said that he felt “total helplessness” during the attack. “He was very strong, and passengers who tried to get involved and pull me off could not stop him. They rushed me to the back of the plane and watched over me. He shouted in my direction in Arabic. They told me he was calling on the other passengers to ‘come and eliminate this Israeli Jew.’ He actually called on them to lynch me.”
He added that ” the entire incident lasted about 20 minutes. Then they took him off the plane. Two policemen accompanied me when the coast was clear. He was in handcuffs. But even after he was taken off the plane he managed to get loose from the cops and tried to come at me again, until they overcame him again.”
Arik reported that he was taken for treatment at a clinic in Addis Ababa, and then brought to a police station to give testimony and identify the suspect. This week he returned to Israel.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry said, “We can confirm that an incident suspected of being an assault took place on flight to Ethiopia. The attacker was a Sudanese Muslim and the victim an Israeli citizen. Upon landing, the Sudanese was taken by police to jail, where he was questioned and has been staying since the incident. The embassy has been updated by the local authorities.”