Arab teen girls indicted for terrorism
14-year-old Ramla residents accused of stabbing security guard with the goal of becoming 'martyrs' in a religious war.
Two 14-year-old girls from Ramla were indicted on Thursday on allegations of attempted murder, conspiracy to commit a crime, and possession of a knife following a stabbing near the city's central bus station last week.
According to the indictment, the pair went to the central bus station in the city in search of IDF soldiers to stab and, upon noticing that there were no troops present, decided to stab a security guard while shouting, "Allah, Allah".
The girls coordinated the deed, said the indictment, and hoped to become "martyrs" in the context of a religious war. They were allegedly influenced by the murder a day earlier of Border Policewoman Hadar Goldin, 19, by three terrorists.
According to the charges, one of the girls suggested committing the attack in the early afternoon, after school, while the other said it would be better to strike in the morning hours. They equipped themselves with a kitchen knife, said the indictment, hiding it in a bag they carried. They attempted to carry out an attack on three occasions but kept backing out when they didn't see soldiers.
Once the pair realized there were no soldiers at the station, they selected the security guard as their target. They allegedly tried to kill him while crying out "Allah". The guard fell on the floor during the ensuing struggle. One of the girls continued stabbing him as he attempted to protect himself until an IDF soldier and another guard intervened to stop the terrorists.
The 27-year-old guard was wounded in the legs and hands. It later emerged that the pair had not arrived at school that day because one of them had to undergo medical tests. Others claimed they had never heard the girls discuss committing terrorism or hurting Jews.
The incident led to condemnations from all sides in Ramla, a mixed Arab-Jewish town that strongly supports coexistence.
