Canadian behind knife attack in Israel was 21-year-old from Alberta

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The man killed in Israel yesterday while attempting to attack security forces was a 21-year-old from Alberta.

Zachareah Adam Quraishi’s father released a public message acknowledging his son’s passing.

“My 21-year-old son Zachareah was killed. I’m not able to talk now…I’m processing….Prayers pls. He was an empathetic boy. I’m confused,” Adam Quraishi, a teacher from Cold Lake, Alta., wrote on Facebook late Monday night. The father has not responded to National Post’s requests for comment.

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The local detachment of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police confirmed receipt of the Post’s request for comment but has not provided any comment.

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Condolences poured in on the father’s Facebook feed following the announcement.

One commenter, sharing the same last name, wrote “May Allah…give him (the) highest level of Jannah as he was a Mujahid!” referring to the Islamic word for a martyr.

Another wrote, “I can’t imagine the pain of losing a child, much less one this way.” Another wrote, “May Allah forgive him and accept him in paradise.”

Zachareah was reportedly shot after screaming “Free Palestine!” and rushing towards Israeli security guards at Netiv Ha’asara with a knife.

Video of the attack released by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) show armed guards patrolling the community’s fortified front gate as Quraishi charges them before the guards shoot him dead.

Photos of the scene show that Quraishi arrived at the scene driving a white Hyundai rental car. Israeli reports say he had arrived in the country the day before, saying he was a tourist. Images on Israeli media showed his passport had been issued at Cold Lake.

Netiv Ha’asara is a moshav — a communal agricultural community — located in the Negev desert about 60 kilometres south of Tel Aviv, abutting Gaza’s northern border. Around 20 Netiv Ha’asara residents were killed during the October 7 attacks, which saw Hamas terrorists conduct a campaign of arson, murder and sexual assault on Israeli communities near Gaza. Over 250 people from communities in Israel were also abducted from their homes by Hamas.

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While little is known of Zachareah, his father Adam’s LinkedIn profile described him as a father of five kids, and only recently a job with the Siksika Nation in southern Alberta in December 2023.

Posts on Quraishi’s Facebook page appear to be largely public and feature the same sort of photos on so many other Facebook pages: his children’s school graduation, events from his school, and vacations.

The young man in the family photo resembles the passport photo of the attacker that was circulated by Israeli officials.

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While the father’s Facebook and X pages contained very little content related to Israel, in an April 3 post, he shared a screenshot of a news story highlighting the deaths of aid workers in Gaza, posted with the caption, “Imagine if you were human, and didn’t deserve being blown up for delivering food.”

Last September, Adam Quraishi changed his Facebook profile photo to a “no place for hate” image, featuring the LGBTQ+ flag superimposed over a map of Canada.

The post immediately prior to that was a post shared from the “Calgary Teachers’s GSA (Gay-Straight Alliance) Information on their participation in last year’s Calgary Pride parade, with Adam commenting “Awesome!”

National Post, with files from Bryan Passifiume

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