The late Reuven Schmerling. Photo: Courtesy of the Schmerling family.

JNS.org – Israel’s Shin Bet security agency said it has evidence indicating that Reuven Schmerling, a Jewish man whose body was discovered last week in a storage facility he owned in the Arab town of Kfar Kassem, was killed in “a terrorist attack carried out for a nationalist motive.”

The Shin Bet said on Sunday that Israeli forces arrested two Palestinians from Kabatiya on suspicion of murdering Schmerling, a resident of the West Bank community of Elkana who was found dead just shy of his 70th birthday. Before the security agency’s announcement, it had been suspected Schmerling was killed due to a business-related dispute.

“We want to thank the security forces for their extensive efforts over such a short period in search of the culprits, and to thank the community of Elkana and all those who supported us, and the warm embrace on all levels,” the Schmerling family said in a statement.