Palestinian attacker’s text message to parents

Channel 10 publishes a translation of a text message sent by a Palestinian man to his parents shortly before he carried out an attack in Jerusalem along with two others.

The attack killed an Israeli border policewoman, Hadar Cohen. All three attackers were killed during a shootout with police at the scene, just outside the Old City, at the Damascus Gate.

“Mother, I’m going to heaven,” Ahmad Zakarneh of Qabatiya wrote in the message, according to a Hebrew translation. “If you see me sizzling in my old blood, rejoice. Don’t say, ‘He died’ and be saddened, for I am living by candlelight, under the Lord’s throne of honor.

“Forgive me, father,” he continued. “I yearned for a saint’s death. My religion called upon me to uphold the ritual. I am a martyr, by Allah’s assistance. Rejoice.”