13-year-old stabber influenced by Hamas

The knifer who, along with his cousin, stabbed a boy in Pisgat Zeev, turns out to be under Hamas influence:

An indictment was filed Friday morning against Ahmed Manasra, the 13-year-old Palestinian boy responsible for a stabbing attack that wounded two Israelis in Pisgat Ze'ev earlier this month.

According to the charge, the minor and his 15-year-old cousin were drawn to act violently in an act of martyrdom with the intent of killing Jews.

The indictment said the 13-year-old identified with Hamas and the plight of the Palestinian people in Gaza and the West Bank.

Manasra denied the claims being charged against him when speaking to authorities earlier this month.

"I was with my cousin, but I didn't stab anyone," he told authorities. "I even pleaded with him not to stab anyone. I didn't want to go through with it even though at first we left the house with the intention of stabbing Jews. This was after my cousin persuaded me to come with him. I was just afraid."

His claims contradicted his initial statements made to the authorities soon after his arrest, when he said that he and his cousin wanted to stab Jews in response to a perceived violation of the status quo on Temple Mount.

CCTV footage released by the Israel Police showed the two cousins chasing a terrified Israeli man who they just stabbed in Jerusalem’s Pisgat Ze’ev neighborhood, before giving up and looking for a new victim.

The teenage terrorists can then be seen running with their knives still drawn toward a candy store that a Jewish boy exits to get on his bicycle.

Seconds later, Ahmed and his accomplice are seen stabbing him in the neck, critically wounding him.

After falling to the ground, the Jewish boy is kicked by one of his assailants, before the Palestinian teens flee the scene when a male store patron gives chase.

Ahmed was run down by a vehicle moments later.

And he deserved it. He should know that with such massive evidence on video tape, he cannot talk his way out of this.

On a related note, the Knesset's education committee has panned Islamic schools' incitement:

A Knesset Education, Culture and Sport Committee meeting on incitement in Palestinian schools and media grew heated Wednesday, with Arab MKs saying the discussion was Israeli propaganda.

Palestinian Media Watch director Itamar Marcus presented his organization’s report on Palestinian Authority education, which assessed the prominent educational messages that could impact peace with Israel.

The report documents that in formal and informal educational frameworks, killers of Israelis are portrayed as heroes and role models, and that children are taught that Israel will eventually be replaced by “Palestine.”

At least 25 Palestinian Authority schools are named after terrorists; three are named after Dalal Mughrabi, who led the most lethal terrorist attack in Israeli history in 1978, killing 37 civilians, 12 of them children.

Marcus showed the MKs a film from PA television, in which a student expressed pride “to attend the Dalal Mughrabi School, which bears this pioneering name,” and another student said her “life’s ambition is to reach the level that the martyr fighter Dalal Mughrabi reached.”

Another clip from televised news in the PA showed a boy saying he learned in school to “fight the Jews, kill them and defeat them,” and another told children that Jews are “Satan with a tail.”

The report also contains chapters on incitement in Palestinian textbooks, educational materials glorifying Hitler, and the PA policy of blocking joint peace-building activities between Palestinian and Israeli children.

Marcus explained that the messages Palestinian children are receiving are nationalist – that Israel is not legitimate on any borders and its existence since 1948 is an occupation – and anti-Semitic – that Jews are evil by nature, descendants of monkeys and pigs, and fated to be killed by Muslims.

I would just disagree about "nationalism" here, not just because there's never been a "palestinian people" of Arabic/Islamic background, but also because teaching evil isn't something real nationalists should do. To truly qualify for your own country, you can't give an education built on hatred, murder and destruction.

And in another related note, the IDF's had to expand security checks to Hebron:

As part of a comprehensive course of action designed to contain the ongoing security crisis rocking Israel and the West Bank, Israel Security Forces were instructed Friday to seal off certain Palestinian neighborhoods in Hebron in order to better conduct security operations and searches throughout the area.

According to the IDF, new security checks will be implemented gradually to help deter terror attacks.

Dubbed operation "Breathing Closure," one of the plan's new directives is to limit the movement of Palestinians from entering and exiting Jewish communities in Hebron, which has been an epicenter of recent violent terror attacks.

Restrictions also apply to Palestinians between the ages of 15-25; Palestinian students who leave their communities in order to attend class will now be subjected to more extensive security checks.

It's all for good reasons that this is being done.