Arab girls (illustration)
Arab girls (illustration)Flash 90

Under interrogation, one of the two 13-year-old female Arab citizens of Israel who stabbed and lightly wounded a security guard at a Ramle mall on Thursday admitted: "we came to kill Jews."

One of the two young terrorists hails from the Jawarish neighborhood of the mixed Jewish and Arab city of Ramle in the central coastal region southeast of Tel Aviv. The other is originally from the Bedouin diaspora, apparently in the Negev, and recently moved to Ramle.

Together and while carrying school bags with two massive knives in them, the two arrived at around 10:40 a.m. at a metal detector at the entrance to the city's mall adjacent to the central station, where the 25-year-old guard was posted.

His suspicions were aroused by the two, and he asked to see their teudot zehut (ID cards), at which point one responded: "I'm 13-years-old, I don't have an ID card yet."

Suddenly the two drew their knives and lunged at him, stabbing him in the leg and hand. As the wounded guard struggled to fend them off, other guards posted nearby rushed to subdue the two terrorists and succeeded in arresting them.

The guard was evacuated to Assaf Harofe Hospital in Be'er Ya'akov to receive medical treatment, while the two teen terrorists were brought in for investigation at the Ramle police station.

An officer of the central district police noted on the enormous knives used in the attack, but then praised the guard for not drawing his weapon despite being assaulted with lethal weapons.

"If you look at the knives, you understand their intentions and level of seriousness in harming citizens," said the officer.

He said the guard "acted in the best way. He understood that he could gain control of them and did so, and did not draw his weapon. During the struggle the guard was wounded. Other guards who were there hurried to aid their friend and helped him gain control over the two."