A security officer “paid with his life” trying to stop illegal Arabs from reaching Tel Aviv, Gershon Mesika, the leader of the Samarian Regional Council, told Arutz Sheva Sunday. Police think the hit-and-run was intentional. The victim was identified as 40-year-old Lior Farchi, age 40.

A Palestinian Authority driver was spotted by the security officer trying to pass through a field in order to avoid being checked at an IDF checkpoint Sunday morning near the Jewish community of Shaarei Tikva, located five miles east of Tel Aviv and on the western edge of Samaria.

“The car ran him down, apparently intentionally,” said Judea and Samaria police chief Amos Yaakov. “We assume the driver’s intention was to run down the security officer and escape, but all possibilities are being investigated, and we cannot draw a final conclusion now,” he told Arutz Sheva. Mesika said that transporting Palestinian Authority Arabs without working permits is a daily occurrence and “a security danger to Tel Aviv.”

“Unfortunately, the security officer paid with his life to prevent this dangerous phenomenon,” Mesika added.

“If the army had placed a guard post here as they do in the surrounding area, this could have been prevented and we would not need a civilian security officer to do the work,” he said.