On 5 February 2018, a rabbi was attacked by a man who fatally stabbed him multiple times in the upper body.

[3][4][5] The perpetrator is said to have decided to kill a Jew during an argument with a policeman at a road junction near Ariel.

There, he identified Rabbi Ben Gal as a Jew due to the fact that he was wearing a kippah.

Abd al-Hakim Asi), a 19 year-old Israeli Arab resident of Jaffa, was behind the attack.

Assis is known to have resided at one time in a home for at-risk youth and to have received social services aid over the years.