Avia Shabo

An indictment against three Israeli Arabs was filed in the Jerusalem District Court on Friday, after the three allegedly planned to attack Temple Mount activist Yehuda Glick or MK Moshe Feiglin (Likud). The Jerusalem District Attorney's Office, via Attorney Yifat Pinhassi, filed the indictment against the three, names as Maj'd Ben Maher Qaraqi (21), Muhammed ibn Azi Bekri (20), and Mahmoud bin Abjad Jaber (18). All three are residents of Jerusalem's eastern section, which is predominantly Arab. According to the indictment, the three were planning to throw rocks and fireworks at either Feiglin or Glick - both of whom were scheduled to ascend the Temple Mount on October 30 - as well as at other Jewish visitors. The defendants planned to camp out overnight on the Temple Mount, during normal visiting hours for Muslims, and then attack visitors the next morning - with plans to intimidate, burn, and harm the visitors, the indictment states. Then, the three had planned to barricade themselves in the Al-Aqsa mosque compound on Judaism's holiest site, preventing security forces from entering, and escape in the anonymity of other worshippers leaving the mosque. The indictment notes that the plan to attack others "in cold blood" has, specifically, nationalistic - i.e. terror - motivations. The plan would also have been carried out just hours after a real-life attempt was made on Glick's life; Glick – who founded and heads the LIBA Initiative for Jewish Freedom on the Temple Mount – was shot in the chest on October 29 outside the Begin Heritage Center in Jerusalem. He was released from hospital just last week. In addition to planning the attack, the three have also been tied to other Arab rioting on the Mount, and have allegedly participated in rock-throwing and firework-shooting attacks against security forces on the Mount while masked.

Avia Shabo

News and updates about Avia Shabo

Survivor of Itamar Massacre Marries Stepbrother