Would-be terrorists sentenced to 8 years in prison

The Jerusalem District Court on Monday jailed for eight years two East Jerusalem residents convicted of planning a large-scale shooting attack at a popular events hall in the city in 2013.

A third man, an accomplice of the two who backed out at the last minute, was handed down a seven-year sentence. All three, aged 19-21 at the time of their arrest, were convicted of conspiracy to aid an enemy in wartime.

The two masterminds, residents of the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Jabel Mukaber, planned to disguise themselves as ultra-Orthodox Jews, enter a wedding or other event at Jerusalem’s Nof hall in the Bayit Vegan neighborhood concealing firearms beneath their clothes, and then to open fire on the guests.

According to the indictment filed against them last year, the suspects approached a Palestinian arms dealer in the West Bank, who agreed to sell them two Uzi sub-machine guns for NIS 50,000. The defendants then approached a third man and convinced him to help raise money in order to acquire the weapons.

In December, the three suspects drove to the Nof hall to survey the site. They examined both the main and staff entrances in order to determine the most convenient way to enter the hall, the court indictment stated.

A short while later, one of the three men decided not to take part in the attack, prompting the two remaining suspects to recruit a fourth man.