‘Don’t be afraid’: Furniture store owner’s chilling message to Jerusalem customer

A routine customer service conversation on Facebook turned into a horrifying extortion scheme involving direct threats against children’s lives and chilling WhatsApp messages. Following a complaint by a Jerusalem resident, investigators from the Judea and Samaria District uncovered a draconian method allegedly used by a Palestinian furniture seller, leading the Military Prosecution to file five serious indictments.

A complex and wide-ranging criminal investigation conducted in recent weeks by Israel Police’s Judea and Samaria District exposed a severe, violent and terrifying pattern of threats by a Palestinian business owner who sells furniture, against Israeli customers. The case began to unfold after an official complaint was filed at the Ariel police station by a Jerusalem resident who had purchased furniture from the suspect through Facebook.

After the woman asked to cancel the transaction for her own reasons, the business owner began directing a stream of direct, crude and frightening threats at her, aimed not only at her personally but also at severely undermining her family’s and children’s sense of security. As investigators dug deeper, it became clear that this was not an isolated incident or a single customer, but a fixed, violent and predatory method by the business owner, who used severe threats as a tool to extort and intimidate customers who were unhappy with the service or asked to cancel a purchase.

Investigators from the Judea and Samaria District identified additional victims who fell into the suspect’s web of threats, revealing a dangerous criminal pattern in which he exploited the digital space and social media networks to instill fear in innocent citizens whose only offense was wanting to carry out a normal consumer transaction. Details from the various cases, which paint an extremely serious picture, show that in one case a customer who decided to cancel a purchase after discovering that the furniture delivered to her did not match her original order found herself under a barrage of calls and messages. The suspect repeatedly urged her to pay him the money, while making it clear that if she did not, he would come personally to her home.

As part of the systematic campaign of intimidation, the woman began receiving additional threatening calls from various people who identified themselves as suspects affiliated with known criminal organizations, in an effort to break her spirit and force her to pay the sum he demanded. In another alarming case, one customer received a series of threatening calls in which she was explicitly and menacingly told that “it won’t be good” if she did not comply with his financial demands.

In other cases, the suspect contacted one of the customers and made it unmistakably clear that he had her personal details and knew exactly where she lived. By revealing her place of residence, the business owner sought to directly threaten the customer’s life and that of her household, all for one purpose, enforcing payment for the consumer transaction and collecting the money through verbal violence and criminal intimidation.

The most shocking point in the threat campaign came during a loud and heated argument the suspect had with another customer over a furniture deal. During the conversation, the business owner hurled a grave and outrageous statement at her, one that touched on a bleeding wound in Israeli society, saying: “What we did to you on October 7 is nothing compared with what I will do to you today.” Immediately afterward, to heighten the fear, he added: “Do you know the Hariri family? Then I’m on my way.” These remarks, combining identification with the horrific massacre with the use of names of known criminal organizations, underscore the suspect’s brazenness and dangerousness.

An inseparable part of the evidentiary basis gathered against the suspect includes direct and chilling WhatsApp exchanges sent to one of the complainants, revealing the suspect’s crude and direct style of threats. Among the messages uncovered in the investigation were: “Everything is fine, now see what I do to your children,” and “When you see the shelter, don’t be afraid I’m at your house.” In another long and threatening message, the suspect wrote to the terrified customer: “You don’t know when I’ll come, don’t know at what time, come on don’t be afraid but don’t cry, I’m not with the children all day, you’re with the children 24 hours now and then I know what I do.”

These messages show the heavy psychological pressure and the targeted threats against the complainant’s children, which were an inseparable part of his extortion method. At the end of the intensive investigation, and after investigators at the Ariel station managed to build a solid, comprehensive and well-founded evidentiary base, the case was transferred to the Military Prosecution. After reviewing the evidence, it decided to file an especially serious indictment against the Palestinian business owner, including five separate counts for criminal acts of threats and extortion.

With the filing of the indictment, Israel Police emphasized that it views such offenses very seriously, as they severely and deeply harm the public’s sense of personal security. The police said they would continue to act resolutely, with all the means at their disposal, against threats and harassment, and would do everything possible to locate suspects, investigate them and bring them fully to justice in court.