National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir instructed the police not to return the body of the terrorist who carried out the attack in the Neve Yaakov neighborhood of Jerusalem, contrary to the position of Police Commissioner Yaakov Shabtai.
According to a report on Channel 13 News on Saturday night, Shabtai thought that continuing to hold the body of the terrorist would lead to an escalation in eastern Jerusalem and therefore believed that the terrorist's body should be returned to the family.
Ben Gvir wrote to the Commissioner that, in a previous incident of a terrorist who pointed a firearm at police, the police made a similar claim, that holding on to the body would cause disturbances and, in the end, it was precisely after the police returned the body and during the funeral that significant disturbances broke out.
In the wake of this, the minister instructed the police not to return the body of the terrorist from Neve Yaakov to his family, noting that doing so is contrary to his policy and the policy of the government.
Minister Ben Gvir's office said in response, “We do not comment on closed conversations between us and the Commissioner.”