A 60-year-old Israeli woman and 29-year-old man were killed and six others wounded on Sunday when an Arab terrorist from eastern Jerusalem fired bullets at passersby from a moving car. The terrorist was shot dead by police.
The Palestinian terror group Hamas claimed Misbah Abu Sbeih, 39, as one of their members while Fatah, the movement led by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, posted a message on its Facebook page praising the shooting and declaring the terrorist a martyr. Hamas also praised the murder as “heroic” and “brave.”
The US State Department said it “condemns in the strongest possible terms the terrorist attack that took place today in Jerusalem, which resulted in the death of two Israelis and injured several others.”
“We extend our deepest condolences to the families of those killed and our hopes for a quick and full recovery for those wounded,” the statement said. “There is absolutely no justification for the taking of innocent lives. We also condemn the statements glorifying this reprehensible and cowardly attack.”
The United Nations’ peace envoy to the Middle East, Nickolay Mladenov, also denounced the shooting, calling it “deplorable” and censuring Hamas for encouraging such assaults. “It is deplorable and unacceptable that Hamas and others choose to glorify such acts which undermine the possibility of a peaceful future for both Palestinians and Israelis,” Mladenov said.
The terrorist who carried out the morning attack was supposed to have turned himself in to prison at that precise time, Ma’an news reported. He was indicted in 2013 for assaulting a police officer in Jerusalem’s Old City. The case was dropped that year, but it was reopened in 2015. The man was convicted and sentenced to four months in prison.
On Monday, Eiman, the 14-year-old daughter of the terrorist, was held and questioned together with her mother for more than an hour by Israeli police before the teen was detained. The arrest came after a video of the teen praising her father went viral on Facebook.
