From the Liveblog of
Wednesday, January 29, 2025
Police arrest 12 over Hamas celebration for released terrorist in East Jerusalem
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Israeli security forces arrested 12 people last night in East Jerusalem on suspicion of participating in a pro-Hamas demonstration celebrating the release of a terrorist freed under the Gaza hostage-ceasefire deal, according to a police spokesperson.
Police say that they found Hamas flags, fireworks, a pellet gun and a large sum of money during last night’s raids.
Though police did not specify the demonstration in question, the arrests come a few days after footage of a parade celebrating the Saturday release of Ashraf Zughayer, a Hamas terrorist convicted in 2002 of driving suicide bombers to carry out attacks, circulated on social media.
The footage shows crowds of people parading through Jerusalem’s Kafr Aqab neighborhood while waving Hamas flags, with Zughayer himself atop a slow-moving pickup truck at the center of the demonstration.
مشاهد من استقبال الأسير المقدسي المحرر أشرف زغير في كفر عقب ، يذكر أنه محكوم بالمؤبد 6 مرات وستين عاماً، وقد أفرج عنه اليوم ضمن صفقة طوفان الأحرار pic.twitter.com/XyirBYGtTf
— شبكة قدس الإخبارية (@qudsn) January 25, 2025
In a post on X earlier this week, Jerusalem Deputy Mayor Arieh King had called on police to take action against the demonstrators and track down the owner of the Ram pickup truck seen in the video.
“How many Dodge Ram vehicles are there in Jerusalem?” King asked in the post.
@IL_police @Dovrut_Police
כמה רכבים מדגם דודג'ראם יש באזור ירושלים?
בטוחני שבתוך כמה שעות,אם רק תתאמצו, תאתרו את בעל הרכב שנעשה בו שימוש בתהלוכת החמאס השבת בכפר עקב. pic.twitter.com/uM2EiICOXH— אריה קינג Arieh King (@arieh_king) January 25, 2025
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