Indictment: 13-year-old from Pisgat Ze'ev attack influenced by Hamas, wanted to be a martyr

Ahmed Manasra facing blame, indictment, for attack that wounded two Israelis, despite earlier denial of involvement.

By JPOST.COM STAFF
Updated: OCTOBER 30, 2015 10:03
Police footage of stabbing attack in Pisgat Ze'ev
An indictment was filed Friday morning against Ahmed Manasra, the 13-year-old Palestinian boy responsible for a stabbing attack that wounded two Israelis in Pisgat Ze'ev earlier this month.
According to the charge, the minor and his 15-year-old cousin were drawn to act violently in an act of martyrdom with the intent of killing Jews.
The indictment said the 13-year-old identified with Hamas and the plight of the Palestinian people in Gaza and the West Bank.
Manasra denied the claims being charged against him when speaking to authorities earlier this month.
"I was with my cousin, but I didn't stab anyone," he told authorities. "I even pleaded with him not to stab anyone. I didn't want to go through with it even though at first we left the house with the intention of stabbing Jews. This was after my cousin persuaded me to come with him. I was just afraid."
His claims contradicted his initial statements made to the authorities soon after his arrest, when he said that he and his cousin wanted to stab Jews in response to a perceived violation of the status quo on Temple Mount.
CCTV footage released by the Israel Police showed the two cousins chasing a terrified Israeli man who they just stabbed in Jerusalem’s Pisgat Ze’ev neighborhood, before giving up and looking for a new victim.
The teenage terrorists can then be seen running with their knives still drawn toward a candy store that a Jewish boy exits to get on his bicycle.
Seconds later, Ahmed and his accomplice are seen stabbing him in the neck, critically wounding him.
After falling to the ground, the Jewish boy is kicked by one of his assailants, before the Palestinian teens flee the scene when a male store patron gives chase.
Ahmed was run down by a vehicle moments later.
A video recorded by an Israeli bystander shows the 13-year-old writhing in pain with his legs bent backwards, while bleeding from his head. The clip, which has been viewed nearly 3 million times, also shows an unidentified man cursing the child for attempting to kill the Jewish boy.
Within minutes, Ahmed Manasra was rushed to Hadassah University Medical Center in Jerusalem’s Ein Kerem, where he is presently in good condition.
However, during a speech on Palestinian television, Abbas claimed Manasra was “executed in cold blood” by “Jewish settlers.”
“We will not give up to the logic of brute force, policies of occupation and aggression practiced by the Israeli government and the herd of settlers who are engaged in terrorism against our people, our holy places, our homes, our trees and the execution of our children in cold blood, as they did with the child Ahmed Manasra and other children from Jerusalem,” he said.
Abbas' remarks prompted the Israeli government to release video and still photographs of Manasra lying in his hospital bed, refuting the Palestinian leader's claims. When it became apparent that the boy was alive, the Palestine Liberation Organization issued a redacted version of Abbas' speech, this time indicating that Manasra was "shot" rather than "executed."