The Jerusalem District Attorney's Office filed charges Thursday against Muhammad Shuman, 18, of Beit Hanina, for attempted murder, in the stabbing of a female soldier two weeks ago.
He was also charged with possession of a knife and obstructing justice.
According to the charge sheet, Shuman was motivated to murder after he "watched news reports on Al Jazeera, Al Manar, Al Quds, Al Aqsa and CNN over the last three years, and felt great frustration from the situation of the Palestinians and the security checks at Kalandia crossing." He "felt that he had to 'do a deed' and stab the soldier so as to cause her death."
Al Manar is Hizbullah's TV station. Al Quds and Al Aqsa are run by Hamas, and CNN is owned by Turner Broadcasting System.
The investigation has discovered that the terrorist left his home in Beit Hanina, north of Jerusalem, on the morning of March 15, equipped with a knife. When he reached the gate to the school where he studies, he decided not to go in, and at 10 a.m. he took the light rail back to his home. When he got on the train, he saw soldier – Yehudit Aharon, 19 – and sat down opposite her.
"A few minutes later, the train stopped at Beit Hanina," says the charge sheet. "The accused got up from his seat and approached the soldier, took the knife out of his pocket and stabbed her in the left side of the chest with the aim of killing her. After the first stab, the soldier tried to protect her body and the accused stabbed her a second time, with the aim of killing her, wounding her in the arm and chest. Immediately after this he ran and escaped from the train."
He then got on a bus toward Kalandia, with the aim of hiding with relatives in Ramallah. During the bus ride, he threw the knife out the window of the bus. This information somehow reached the police. At the Kalandia crossing, he was arrested, and he admitted his crime in the initial interrogation.
The investigation found that he acted independently and was not affiliated with any terror group.