Jerusalem police arrested eight people over the weekend in connection with the massacre of eight yeshiva students at the Merkaz HaRav Kook Yeshiva last Thursday night.
Jerusalem District Police Chief Aharon Franco confirmed on Saturday that eights suspects had been detained on suspicion of involvement in the terror attack, which police said was well- planned. No details on the eight suspects were released.
Franco also said in an interview with Channel 2 TV that the killer did not fit the standard Palestinian Authority terrorist profile. “He is not known to the security forces. He was a normal man who worked as a driver, who was going to be married soon,” he said.
The murderer, 25-year-old Ala Abu Dheim, had operated completely under the radar, stockpiling ammunition and weapons, some of which remained after the attack. Abu Dheim also personally chose the target and time for the attack after spending considerable time observing and gathering intelligence about the yeshiva, it was learned.
Although the attack itself was carried out on behalf of a terrorist organization it is still not clear which one. Several have claimed credit, including Hamas, which later retracted its statement. A relatively new terrorist gang, calling itself the Martyrs of Imad Mughniyeh (the Hizbullah second-in-command who was assassinated in Damascus last month) also claimed responsibility, as did an Israeli-Arab terrorist group in the Galilee.
The elder Abu Dheim was held for interrogation immediately following the attack. The murderer’s brother was also interrogated; upon his release he fled to Jordan, where officials questioned anyone with whom he had contact.
Officers from the Jerusalem Municipal Minority Unit ordered the family to remove the Hamas and Hizbullah terrorist flags that were flying proudly on the mourning tent in which they received visitors following the murderer’s death. Government officials announced Sunday, however, that the family will be allowed to keep the tent open in the Jabel Mukabar neighborhood. Several MKs had protested against the tent, decorated with Hamas and Hizbullah flags.
Jordan Bans Public Family Mourning for Terrorist
Jordanian security officials stopped the terrorist’s relatives, who live near Amman, from publicly mourning him altogether.
The Jordanian branch of the family had erected a large mourning tent Friday to welcome visitors, but was immediately forced to dismantle it after the governor of Amman issued orders banning them from erecting a tent or otherwise publicly mourning the murderer.
A source in the Jordanian Interior Ministry said the government outlaws events that support violence against civilians, saying it was a matter of national security.
Abu Dheim’s uncle complained that Jordanian officials also threatened the family after he decided to hold public mourning in his yard when he dismantled the tent.
“We were hoping that people would come to congratulate us on the martyrdom of my nephew,” said Muhammed Abu Dheim. “This was a heroic operation that must be celebrated by everyone here.”
The celebration was immediately stopped, however.
“Jordanian security agents and policemen cordoned off the area and prevented people from coming to my house. The decision was unjustified and doesn’t make sense,” he added. “My nephew carried out a heroic operation against an extremist Zionist college that calls for killing [Palestinian Authority Arabs.]”
As in Jerusalem, the Jordanian branch of the family was also ordered to remove Hamas and Hizbullah terrorist flags they had placed on rooftops and telephone poles following the attack, a move that was labeled “ironic” by another Jordanian relative.
“We saw on TV that the family in Jerusalem was holding a public event. We didn’t see the Israeli police prevent people from arriving at the family house there.” No mention was made of the fact that the family house in Jerusalem had been demolished by the IDF.
The Hashemite Kingdom was one of the few to condemn the massacre; Amman had similarly blocked the family of Al Qaeda’s Jordanian terror chief, Abu Musab Zarqawi, from publicly mourning and praising the arch terrorist in his hometown of Zarqa.