Attorney for 13-year-old terrorist arrested for Facebook, Twitter incitement
"He was calling on Palestinians to become involved in terrorist attacks against innocent Israelis and police," police say.
By DANIEL K. EISENBUDUpdated: DECEMBER 3, 2015 01:1513-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)
The defense attorney for a 13-year-old Arab terrorist, who stabbed a Jewish boy in the neck moments after stabbing an Israeli man in northeastern Jerusalem’s Pisgat Ze’ev in October, was arrested by police on Tuesday for Internet incitement.The unidentified 40-year-old lawyer, from northeastern Jerusalem’s upscale Beit Hanina neighborhood, is accused of using his Facebook and Twitter accounts to incite terrorist attacks against Jews and security personnel, police said.“He was calling on Palestinians to become involved in attacks against innocent Israelis and police,” said Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld on Wednesday. “Police tracked him for a number of weeks in an undercover investigation, and when enough evidence was gathered, he was arrested.”While Rosenfeld said the man was arraigned at the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court, he did not know if he was remanded or released on bond.His client, Ahmed Manasra, confessed to stabbing 13-year-old “Naor,” whose identity is being protected, minutes after stabbing a 21-year-old Jewish man in the area.CCTV footage showed Manasra and his 15-year-old cousin Hassan Manasra stabbing Naor in the neck shortly after he got on his bicycle upon exiting a candy store. The cousins then kicked the boy while he was on the ground.Separate surveillance footage recorded minutes earlier shows the two attackers chasing their other victim, who was running for his life, after they stabbed him. The man escaped with light wounds.After attacking Naor, both terrorists fled on foot, their bloodied knives still drawn. The elder Manasra was shot dead moments later, after charging police with a knife, while Ahmed was struck by a car.Following emergency surgery at Hadassah University Medical Center in Jerusalem’s Ein Kerem, Naor, who was in critical condition, made underwent what doctors called a near-miraculous recovery, and was released from the hospital nearly two weeks later.The stabbing made international headlines after Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas erroneously alleged that the Palestinian boy was “killed in cold blood by Jewish settlers.”
Manasra is expected to confess to two counts of attempted murder, although his arrested lawyer was attempting to reduce the charges against him by claiming it was his cousin who stabbed both victims.The boy is reportedly confessing to the charges before turning 14 in January, at which point he will be eligible for imprisonment in a juvenile facility.Following the brutal attack, lawmakers worked on bills to lower the minimum age under which an assailant may receive a prison sentence.Currently, minors under the age of 14 cannot be sent to prison, although some are sent to a home for troubled youth.