The main suspect in New Zealand’s mosque attacks made a brief visit to Israel in late 2016, Israeli officials said on Sunday.
#Breaking: Israeli media report #Christchurch mass murderer Brenton Tarrant visited Israel in October 2016 for a little over a week.
— Noga Tarnopolsky (@NTarnopolsky) March 17, 2019
Brenton Tarrant, an Australian national, entered Israel in October 2016 on a three-month tourist visa and stayed for nine days, an official with Israel’s Population and Immigration Authority told Reuters.
Tarrant is the suspected gunman in Friday’s attacks in the city of Christchurch in which 50 people were killed in New Zealand’s worst peacetime mass shooting.
Suspected New Zealand mosque terrorist #Tarrant visited Israel in 2016 | Article [AMP] | Reuters #NZMosqueShooting https://t.co/jgG9FTxTxg
— Raking Citizen Halo ???⏳ (@haloefekti) March 18, 2019
The official said there were no further details available on what Tarrant, 28, did during his stay in Israel. The Australian embassy and New Zealand consulate in Israel did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Greek, Bulgaria, Turkey, Croatia, and Hungary also confirm trips by Tarrant.https://t.co/LlIgOQVFH3
— Sabena Siddiqi (@sabena_siddiqi) March 18, 2019
Also in late 2016, Tarrant visited Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Croatia, where he stopped by historic battle sites, before traveling in Western Europe in 2017.
He returned to the Balkans in November 2018 to tour historic sites of Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary.
(MEMO, PC, Social Media)
How did he support himself and who paid for his world travel?
‘entered Israel in October 2016 on a three-month tourist visa and stayed for nine days’… to go through the task of getting a visa for Israel then staying only 9 days is weird. Mustn’t have taken long to receive his instructions