Jerusalem Police arrest 2 Arab minors for Facebook terrorism incitement

15-year-old suspects created page honoring terrorist who killed 3 bus passengers in capital last year.

By DANIEL K. EISENBUD
Richard Lakin (photo credit: COURTESY OF FAMILY)
Richard Lakin
(photo credit: COURTESY OF FAMILY)
Two Arab east Jerusalem teens were arrested for incitement on Sunday night after an undercover police unit found an inflammatory Facebook page created by both suspects praising a notorious terrorist, and calling on thousands of “friends” to continue his legacy.
“The two 15-year-old Arab minors created a Facebook page to honor the terrorist, Baha Elian, who killed three Israeli men and wounded many others on a bus in Armon Hanatziv last year, before being shot and killed by police,” said Police Spokesman Micky Rosenfeld on Monday.
“They set up the page under the name of Elian and used it as a platform to transfer information to thousands of followers to praise the terrorist and terrorist activities. In fact, it was a platform used as a call to violence to carry out terrorist attacks.”
The bloody October 2015 Egged Bus gun and knife attack, which made international headlines and rattled the nation, took the lives of Haim Haviv, 78, Alon Govberg, 51, and Richard Lakin, 76, and seriously wounded 10 others.
Elian’s Jebl Mukaber home was subsequently demolished by government bulldozers, and his accomplice, Abu Ghanem, also of Jabl Mukaber, whose home was sealed, was sentenced to life imprisonment.
Rosenfeld said the Jerusalem District Undercover Unit tracked and arrested the teens, who were charged with incitement to carry out terrorist attacks and incitement to violence during their Monday arraignment at Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court.
According to Rosenfeld, the arrests are part of ongoing and far-reaching undercover Internet police investigations.
“This is one of the many police operations taking place in order to try and prevent incitement and track individuals who are using Facebook and other social networks as a platform to carry out attacks,” he said.


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