Haifa shooting scene
Haifa shooting sceneMDA spokesman

There is a growing conviction among Haifa police that the shooting spree which occurred Tuesday in Haifa was actually a terror attack perpetrated for nationalistic motives.

The manhunt for the main suspect in the attack continues at this time. Police forces raided a neighborhood in the city and a deserted house and searched them for over three hours.

In the shooting attack, Guy Capri (47) of the city of Nesher was murdered and Rabbi Yehiel Iluz(48), a resident of Migdal Ha'emek and a rabbinical judge in a conversion court in Haifa, was moderately wounded.

Rabbi Iluz's son told the media that it was impossible that his father was involved in criminal activity. "He is an honest person who sits in his corner, does his work as a judge and studies Torah all day," said the son. "He does not mix with people and does not look for confrontations."

"Nobody spoke with him today, it is hard to imagine that he had a dispute with anyone. He never acted cruelly. It must be a case of mistaken identity. He never said that he had a dispute with anyone".

Another family member of the rabbi said he was utterly surprised by the shooting and said that the rabbi had never had a dispute with anyone. "He is a very quiet man, modest and intelligent. There is no way that he got into trouble with someone. This is a person who would not kill a fly, who only speaks if he is asked to say words of Torah."

"He is a father of 7 children, a person who knows how to love. He never spoke of pressures on matters of conversion. He is a quiet man, always studying in the synagogue or in his house. According to what we know there is no chance that there was any [dispute]. If there was anything it might be that he dealt with a person who was refused conversion and wished to use pressure tactics."