East Jerusalem man indicted for driving attackers to deadly assault

An East Jerusalem man who transported three Palestinians to carry out a terror attack that killed a Border Policewomen earlier this year was charged in the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court on Friday with causing death by negligence.

Border Police cadet Hadar Cohen, 19, was killed in the shooting and stabbing attack outside Jerusalem’s Old City on February 3. Cohen died hours after being shot in the head and stabbed in the neck. A second policewoman was wounded in the attack.

Hamis Saliama, a 57-year-old from the Wadi al-Joz area, is also charged with causing bodily harm to the second policewoman, Israel Radio said.

Saliama allegedly took the three attackers to the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Isawiyah, after they crossed over the West Bank security barrier. He received a payment of NIS 150 for the ride.

Several hours later, the three Palestinians arrived at Damascus Gate at the entrance to the Old City — a flashpoint for Palestinian attacks over recent months — where they carried out their attack.

The three, all in their early 20s, were later named as Ahmed Abou al-Roub, Mohammed Kameel and Ahmad Najah Ismail Nazar, from Qabatiya in the northern West Bank. They arrived at the gate with rifles, knives and two pipe bombs, police said.

Cohen had been drafted into the Border Police only two months earlier, and was still in training at the time of the attack.

She was part of a three-member squad that spotted the three Palestinians behaving suspiciously and asked to see their identification papers. As one attacker withdrew his ID card, the others opened fire and pulled out knives to attack the officers.

Police said that, despite being taken by surprise, Cohen managed to return fire before she was mortally wounded. Officers killed the attackers on site.