3 indicted for harboring stabber after Jerusalem attack
Also, Tel Aviv court convicts Palestinian of murder 2 years after he fatally stabbed a soldier in Tel Aviv train station
Dov Lieber is a former Times of Israel Arab affairs correspondent.
Three residents of the Old City of Jerusalem were indicted over allegations that they had helped a Palestinian stabber evade capture by security forces earlier in May, police said Wednesday.
Muhannad Muhtaseb, 20, stabbed a man in the back on a main street in the Old City on the night of May 2, injuring his elderly victim moderately. The attacker then fled from the scene resulting in a massive manhunt. Muhtaseb was eventually arrested the same night of his attack, the Israel Police said in a statement.
Muhtaseb managed to evade police for hours after his attack due to the help of the three locals, police said.
According the statement, the stabber initially enlisted the help of one man, who led him into a hard-to-find compound concealed from security cameras. Once in the compound, the two other accomplices were said to arrive. One of them then allegedly harbored the attacker in his nearby home, and allowed him to wipe the blood from his body and change into a different pair of clothes.
The other new arrival, according to police, kept watch near the compound and, when he saw officers in the area, rushed to tell Muhtaseb to flee. The attacker was then taken by the two men to another home nearby, where he was eventually arrested by police.
The three were indicted on Friday, and on Wednesday police requested that they be kept in custody until the end of their court proceedings in the Jerusalem Magistrate Court.
Palestinian convicted of murder two years after attack
Meanwhile, the Tel Aviv District Court convicted Nur al-Din Abu Hashiyeh, 20, of murder on Wednesday, for the lethal stabbing attack of an Israeli soldier two years ago in Tel Aviv.
Hashiyeh, from the West Bank city of Nablus, entered Israel illegally on November 10, 2014.
He then traveled to Tel Aviv’s Hahagnah train station, where he stabbed to death 20-year-old IDF soldier Almog Shiloni. He also tried to take the soldier’s gun but was warded off by a passerby, Gilad Goldman, 59.
Hashiya fled to a nearby building where police arrested him.
During his trial, which was attended by members of Almog’s family, Hashiyeh gave a chilling admission of his crime.
“Yes, I murdered him. I wanted to take his weapon and shoot everyone because of what your rabbis are doing at Al-Aqsa. I wanted to finish off everyone that was in the street,” he said, referring to the holy compound on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount, which many Palestinians believe is threatened by Israeli policies.
The Israeli government has consistently denied allegations it intends to make changes to the status quo at the volatile site, where only Muslims currently may worship.
The Times of Israel Community.