Boy hurt in Jerusalem stabbing gets new bike from police

A 13-year-old boy who was stabbed and critically injured while riding his bike in Jerusalem on October 12 has recovered from his injuries, and on Sunday was presented with a new bicycle — a gift from police.

The child, identified as Naor, was one of two people stabbed in Pisgat Zeev by two Palestinian cousins, aged 13 and 15. He was brought to hospital in critical condition, but doctors managed to stabilize him. A second victim, a 25-year-old man, was hospitalized in serious condition.

Naor spent a week in an induced coma hooked up to a breathing machine. On Sunday he was on his feet and smiling as he received the present from policemen at an event held by the local community.

“Naor is returning to his daily routine!” a Facebook page covering Pisgat Zeev news proclaimed, underneath a photo from the event.

Ahmed Manasra, the 13-year-old Palestinian assailant, gained some notoriety after Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas falsely claimed he had been executed by police. Manasra has since reportedly confessed, saying he “went there to stab Jews.”

He said his accomplice, his cousin Hassan Manasra, 15, persuaded him to carry out the attack, the police said. The elder Manasra was shot dead when he lunged at police with a knife.

“I came with my cousin Hassan,” he reportedly said. “He brought the knives and I agreed to join him.”

Palestinian officials and relatives have claimed the two cousins were not involved in an attack and were unjustly targeted.

“My son cannot stab, he doesn’t know how to hold a knife,” Ahmed Manasra’s father said on Tuesday.

But police released footage showing the two brandishing knives and chasing a man down the street.

The bicycle a 13-year-old boy was riding before he was stabbed in the Pisgat Zeev neighborhood of Jerusalem on October 12, 2015. (Israel Police Spokesperson’s Unit)