Shelly Dadon
Shelly DadonCourtesy of the Dadon Family

The father of Shelly Dadon, the 19-year-old resident of Afula whose body was found Thursday in the woods near Migdal Haemek, has spoken for the first time regarding his daughter's murder, which apparently was committed by a terrorist who fled to a nearby Arab village.

"We started to worry. At 2 p.m. we realized something happened," the father told Arutz Sheva, recalling the events of how his daughter went missing after leaving for a job interview. "We contacted the police and I gave a description (of Shelly), and then they told us to come to the station, and I realized something had happened."

Regarding the motivation behind his daughter's murder, he said "I believe it was nationalistic, and still can't digest (her murder). She was a very responsible girl."

"They shouldn't rest until they find her phone, maybe there are fingerprints on it," added the bereaved father, noting that she had been in the middle of a phone call with her cousin apparently at the time of the murder.

While on the phone, Shelly said "there is someone scary here, I'm being strangled!" Shelly appeared to be referring to a woman [extrapolated from Hebrew grammar - ed.]. 

"There's no security in this country," said Shelly's father. "My message to parents is not to send your children alone, we don't digest the fact that in the state of Israel you go to your workplace and don't come back. They just butchered my girl."

The funeral of Shelly Dadon will take place on Saturday after Shabbat, at 10:30 p.m. in Afula's cemetery.

"Her first time leaving the house alone"

Members of Shelly's family are currently mourning the loss at the Dadon home in Afula.

"She was a blossoming young lady," one family member stated. "This was her first time leaving the house alone." 

The Shin Bet is still hunting for the killer, who as noted apparently fled to a nearby Arab village; police have stated their belief that the murder was nationalistically motivated - a terror attack, not a criminal act.

Despite that, Shelly's cousin Alon noted there has been a remarkable lack of condemnation of the attack from Israel's government.

"I want every MK to know what is going on here," he said. "If this had been a 'price tag' graffiti incident, the whole State would have been up in arms. But when a young girl is murdered on her way to a job interview, they are all silent." 

"We demand that they bring [the killer] to justice," he added. 

By contrast, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and others were swift to condemn an alleged act of "price tag" vandalism earlier this week, especially in light of a damning report from the US State Department over the "Jewish terrorism." 

Netanyahu called the latest attack "outrageous," vowing, "we are using ISA (Shin Bet) resources for this purpose.”