18 years after their murder: Terrorist convicted of shooting 2 off-duty IDF commandos to death

One Friday morning, 18 years ago (28 December 2007), Ahikam Amihai and David Rubin, two IDF soldiers and residents of Kiryat Arba, were on vacation, along with Naama Ohayon. They were in the Nahal Telem wadi, which starts in Area C under Israeli control, and spreads into in Area B, where the Palestinians have civic responsibility, but Israel maintains security responsibility.

They were both elite soldiers.

Rubin (21) served as a combat soldier in Shayetet 13. Amihai (20) served as a commander in the Israeli elite Air Force commando unit Shaldag.

During their trip, they were shot at by a passing SUV. Although they were on vacation, they were both carrying military weapons. They returned fire, killing the terrorist driving the SUV. Before the attackers left the scene of the attack, they shot Amihai and Robin at close range to make sure they were all dead, and they stole their military weapons. During the battle, Ohayon survived by hiding behind a rock in the riverbed, and after the attackers fled the scene she contacted Israeli security forces.

Although security forces deployed roadblocks to capture the attackers, they somehow passed the checkpoint and escaped.

The two other terrorists who were involved in the shooting attack later on turned themselves in to the Palestinian Authority. Since then, they were held in “protective custody” in a PA jail. Two of the attackers belonged to Fatah, while one was a soldier in the Palestinian National Security Forces.

Three months ago, one of the attackers, Ali Dandid, was captured in an operation involving Shin Bet, Yamam, and IDF forces, three months after being released by the PA.

Today (Wednesday), a military court convicted Dandis of murdering IDF soldiers David Rubin and Ahikam Amihai, of blessed memory, in 2007 at Nahal Telem.

The indictment further states that while in Palestinian Authority custody, the terrorists managed terror cells, organized equipment and weapons, and the defendant even carried out a shooting attack in the Hebron Hills with additional terrorists. The soldiers’ families said: “We thank the security forces for their efforts in capturing the terrorist and demand that the legal authorities exhaust justice and sentence the terrorist to death as stipulated by the law.”

Attorney Haim Bleicher from the Honenu organization, representing the soldiers’ families, stated: “The State of Israel must escalate its war on terror—execute the terrorist and his accomplices and wage an all-out battle against the Palestinian Authority, a terror entity that continuously operates terrorism and prepares for a day of reckoning.”

Bleicher added: “The indictment against the terrorist is also an indictment of the prevailing mindset in the country, even today, a year and a half after October 7. The murderers of David and Ahikam, of blessed memory, found refuge under the wings of the Palestinian Authority and continued to harm and kill from there. The State of Israel must escalate its absolute war on terror, execute the terrorist and his accomplices, and fight a relentless battle until complete victory over the Palestinian Authority, a terror entity that continuously operates terrorism and prepares for a day of reckoning.”