Indictments were filed Wednesday against a 52-year-old Arab resident of the northeastern Jerusalem neighborhood of Issawiya and another from the Palestinian Authority.
The two men are charged with negligent manslaughter as accessories in connection with the murder of Border Guard Policewoman Hadas Malka, z’l, who was stabbed to death while stationed at the Damascus Gate entrance to the Old City of Jerusalem last month.
The two men were bringing in other citizens of the Palestinian Authority as well, who were headed to the Al Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount for prayers during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. The terrorists embedded themselves amongst the other Arab residents, but investigators believe the driver from Issawiya knew their intentions.
“Anyone who drives illegal aliens into Israeli territory must know and expect” that among them there may be a terrorist who hopes to carry out an attack – “which means that at some level he is a partner to that attack and its grave consequences,” said Israel Police in a statement.
The 23-year-old policewoman was stabbed in the chest by one of the three attackers who opened fire at people near Zedekiah’s Cave, and began stabbing at the Damascus Gate.
All three attackers were killed by security personnel who were in the same area.
Neither man was identified to media by the Jerusalem Prosecutor’s Office, but both are accused of driving the three terrorists to the edge of Jerusalem and arranging for their transport through the crossing from the Palestinian Authority into Israel carry out the deadly attack.
Israel Police underscored in a statement that its Central Investigations Unit will “continue its efforts to track down anyone who was connected in any way to the attack, and any statements that contain any element of incitement.”
The parents of the man who murdered Malka also remain in police custody – first the mother and then the father, due to statements they both made after the incident, expressing support for terror attacks against Jews, police said. Both are residents of Deir Abu Masha’al, a Palestinian Authority village in Samaria near Ramallah.