3 east Jerusalem men convicted of planning terror attack on Jerusalem wedding hall
Men sought to target wedding hall dressed as ultra-Orthodox Jews.
By YONAH JEREMY BOBNof Yerushalayim wedding hall that was target of terror attack(photo credit: COURTESY NOF YERUSHALAYIM WEDDING HALL)
Three east Jerusalem residents were convicted Tuesday of planning a terrorist attack on a wedding hall in the capital’s Bayit Vegan neighborhood.Anas Ouisat, Basel Abidat and Ahmed Sarur of the Jebl Mukaber neighborhood were convicted of not only conspiracy to commit a felony, but conspiracy to commit a felony in aid of an enemy during war.The men had fought the second, more serious charge, but to no avail.Ouisat and Abidat decided in December 2013 to carry out a nationalistically motivated attack against civilians in Jerusalem, in coordination with terrorist groups. Ouisat suggested a shooting attack on the Nof Yerushalayim wedding hall, because there could be many casualties (800 to 1,500 attendees) and because he had worked there.They planned to enter the hall dressed as ultra-Orthodox Jews, with mini-Uzi guns under their clothes, and they obtained an estimate of NIS 50,000 from a weapons dealer.At some point, Sarur joined the group and performed surveillance of the hall to plan the attack. However, he had a dispute with the original two and eventually dropped out.A fourth man, Amru Abado, replaced him.All four men were arrested in February 2014.Tuesday’s verdict did not mention what Abado’s fate would be.
