A Palestinian Authority Arab and two Israeli Arabs burglarized an apartment home and poisoned a Jewish family they worked for last November, police revealed Sunday. “I hate Jews,” the PA Arab told investigators.
The wo other Arabs from the “Triangle” area near Netanya also were charged with the burglary, but denied being involved in the poison attack.
Police said Adnan Otman Nassarah, 46, from the Shechem area in Samaria (Shomron) burglarized the Lerner family apartment in Raanana, near Tel Aviv, while carrying out renovation work.
The thieves had access to the home because the Lerner's knew and trusted the contractor for whom the men worked and gave him the keys . When Eyal Lerner returned home one day, he discovered that items were missing. When police came to investigate, he fainted after drinking grapefruit juice that was on the table. Lerner has said that the juice had a strange taste.
A later investigation revealed it was laced with poison. A volunteer policeman, Lerner’s wife Yifat and their two and half-year-old son also became ill after drinking filtered water, that later was found to contain cleaning liquid.
All were hospitalized in light condition, except for Eyal, who was in serious condition until making a full recovery.
Eyal Lerner told Israeli radio, “We lock the apartment a lot better now.” He added that after having made a full recovery, he feels better that the culprits have been arrested. Police advised, “Don’t give keys to anyone you cannot rely on.”
“I was not difficultly to realize that we were burglarized, because the television was missing.” Yifat Lerner said. “Our camera also disappeared.”
The two workers from the Triangle area were charged with burglary, and Nassarah additionally was charged with attempted murder.
During the investigation, Arabs in Nassarrah’s village of Beit Furik stoned soldiers and police when they arrived at the house. They found poison in his home and also found stolen items in the home of one of the Arabs living in the Triangle.