Shalom Yohai Sherki
Shalom Yohai SherkiCourtesy of the family

Shalom Yohai Sherki, who was murdered in a terrorist attack in Jerusalem last week, was on Monday officially recognized by the State of Israel as a victim of terrorism.

A spokesman for the National Insurance Institute, Chaim Fitoussi, told Arutz Sheva that Sherki’s name would be entered into the list of citizens who were killed in acts of terrorism and has been recognized as a terror victim by the authorities.

Sherki’s family was updated of the development by representatives of the National Insurance Institute, said Fitoussi.

Sherki, 26, was initially injured when a Palestinian Arab driver deliberately rammed his car into a Jerusalem bus stop. He was taken to hospital where he later succumbed to his injuries. Another victim, 20-year-old Shira Klein, was seriously injured in the attack.

The driver, a 37-year-old Palestinian from Arab neighborhoods of Jerusalem, was arrested and interrogated by police. He was later named as Khaled Kutina. 

The terrorist's pregnant wife claimed in interviews with Palestinian Arab media on Friday that her husband is not at all interested in politics and news, so the incident was not a terror attack but "a car accident caused by the weather."

On Thursday night, police announced their suspicions that the "car accident" was indeed a terror attack, with evidence from the scene including the way the car struck the bus stop where the two were waiting strengthening that assessment.

Police chief Yohanan Danino later confirmed that the incident was indeed a terrorist attack, ruling out initial suggestions that it had been an accident.

Students of the Bnei Tzvi Yeshiva, where Sherki studied, will gather on Tuesday at 8:00 p.m. for a ceremony in his memory, at the site of the attack in Jerusalem’s French Hill neighborhood. Tuesday is the eve of Yom Hazikaron - Israel’s Day of Remembrance for the Fallen Soldiers of Israel and Victims of Terrorism.