East Jerusalem man indicted for enabling lethal stabbing attack
Abdel Aziz Merei accused of convincing Muhannad Halabi to carry out early October killing, buying knife for him
An Arab resident of East Jerusalem was indicted at the Jerusalem District Court on Thursday for murder, for his alleged role in a terror attack last month in which two people were killed.
According to the indictment, Abdel Aziz Merei, 21, convinced Muhannad Halabi to carry out a terror attack and purchased the knife with which Halabi stabbed Aharon Banita and Nehemia Lavi to death on October 3.
The two young men met when they were trying to enter the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem to pray but were prohibited from going in by Israeli security forces. Merei then proposed that Halabi carry out a stabbing attack in revenge for the refusal and bought a knife with a 30-centimeter-long (12-inch) blade.
Merei, the indictment alleges, told Halabi that he must die a “martyr’s death” in order to become a “shahid,” the Arabic word for martyr. He then took Halabi’s phone and driver’s license and asked Halabi not to mention his name if he ever got caught. Merei then traveled back to his home in Abu Dis, an East Jerusalem neighborhood.
According to the State Attorney’s Office, Merei knelt and prayed when he learned that a terror attack took place in Jerusalem. He then posted a picture of Halabi on his Facebook page with the words “praise to Shuhada [martyrdom].”
Halabi, 19, was killed by Border Police officers moments after he stabbed Lavi and Bennett to death, and also wounded Banita’s wife, Adele, and their child.
According to the indictment served against Merei, he is charged with two acts of murder and one act of attempted murder. Merei is also accused of aiding and abetting terrorists and terror organizations, of helping a person enter Israel illegally, and of membership in an unlawful organization.
The Times of Israel Community.