'My cousin made me do it,' 13-year-old Palestinian stabber tells police

According to Ahmed Manasra, it was his 15-year-old cousin, Hassan, who perpetrated the stabbings in Pisgat Ze'ev.

By ALLON HACHMON
Updated: OCTOBER 19, 2015 15:34
13-year-old east Jerusalem boy who carried out stabbing attack in Pisgat Ze'ev hospitalized at Hadassah University Medical Center in Jerusalem's Ein Kerem‏ (photo credit: Courtesy)
13-year-old east Jerusalem boy who carried out stabbing attack in Pisgat Ze'ev hospitalized at Hadassah University Medical Center in Jerusalem's Ein Kerem‏
(photo credit: Courtesy)
Ahmed Manasra, the 13-year-old Palestinian boy who along with his cousin was arrested for allegedly taking part in a stabbing attack that wounded two Israelis in the Pisgat Ze'ev section of Jerusalem last week, changed his story when questioned by authorities about his part in the assault.
 
According to the Palestinian teen, it was his 15-year-old cousin, Hassan, who perpetrated the stabbings.
 
Investigators interrogated Manasra from his hospital bed at Hadassah University Medical Center in Ein Kerem.
 
Police footage of stabbing attack in Pisgat Ze"ev
"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."
Manasra's claims contradict 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.
 
Last week, CCTV footage recently released by the Israel Police shows Ahmed Manasra, 13, and Hassan Manasra, his 15-year-old cousin, 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.
 
In a separate surveillance video, taken near the city’s light rail, Hassan is seen charging police with the knife still in his hand, before being shot and killed.
 
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."