Man Charged with Murder of 7-Year-Old Boy in Beit Shemesh Pool Attack

Liel Ifargan, 26, of Beit Shemesh, was indicted Monday on charges of aggravated murder and attempted murder for fatally stabbing 7-year-old Hillel Mordechai Dadon and wounding his 4-year-old cousin. The prosecution is seeking to detain Ifargan until the legal proceedings against him are concluded. The victim's grandmother, Hana, expressed her grief, stating, "He murdered the whole family." Hillel's mother, Tamar, told the court, "This man will get his punishment."

According to the indictment filed by the Jerusalem District Prosecutor's Office, the incident occurred last month when the two children were playing in an inflatable pool in a backyard. Ifargan, who lives in a nearby housing unit, emerged with a knife, entered the yard, and stabbed Hillel in the chest and his cousin in the neck with the intent to kill. He then fled back to his residence and cleaned the blood from the knife.

Hillel sustained a fatal chest wound, while his cousin suffered active bleeding from a neck wound. The cousin was hospitalized for three days after undergoing surgery, sedation, and ventilation. The indictment charges Ifargan with aggravated murder, attempted murder, and aggravated assault.

The prosecution's case includes DNA evidence and a distressed call to emergency services where the injured cousin's father reported, "Yishai's son (the defendant's father) made me bleed." The investigation also involved a reenactment by Ifargan, during which he demonstrated the stabbings on two investigators. During his interrogation, Ifargan reportedly said, "The boy stabbed in the chest laughed at the boy stabbed in the neck for not being able to scream."