Amnesty Int’l bemoans ‘lost childhood’ of knife-wielding terrorist

Human rights group calls convicted terrorist a ‘victim of Israel’s discriminatory justice system,’ whitewashes stabbing spree.

By World Israel News Staff

A Palestinian terrorist who injured two Israelis in a 2015 stabbing spree is a “victim of Israel’s discriminatory justice system,” according to a statement from human rights group Amnesty International.

Ahmad Manasra, now 20, was a young teenager when he set out to “stab Jews” in 2015 alongside his cousin, according to a statement he made to police at the time.

The pair targeted Jewish civilians on the street in Pisgat Ze’ev, a neighborhood in eastern Jerusalem. Mansra’s cousin stabbed three people, including a 12-year-old boy and an adult man, who was seriously wounded.

Manasra was convicted on terror charges, and sentenced to 12 years in prison for attempted murder. Because he did not succeed in stabbing anyone, Manasra received a relatively lenient sentence.

However, he chased after potential victims while brandishing a knife and made several attempts to wound people. His attempt to commit a stabbing attack ended when an Israeli hit Manasra with his car in order to stop him. The cousin was shot and killed during the attack.

In response to claims by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas that Israel had “executed” Manasra, Israeli authorities released footage of the boy recuperating from his injuries at Jerusalem’s Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital.

Amnesty International, which released a report accusing Israel of being an apartheid state earlier this year, glossed over the details of Manasra’s crime and portrayed him as being unfairly incarcerated by Israel.

“Ahmad Manasra has been subjected to a catalogue of injustices by the Israeli authorities, including deleterious effects of incarceration on his development and prolonged solitary confinement,” said Heba Morayef, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa.

“He endured ill-treatment during interrogations, which were conducted without his parents or lawyers’ presence, and was denied the right to a fair trial. He should have been released a long time ago, yet he remains in unnecessary suffering in Israeli prisons.”

In a tweet, Amnesty urged the public to call upon the Israeli government to free Manasra, lamenting that he had “lost his childhood in Israel’s prison system.”

The organization added that”is one of many victims of #IsraeliApartheid’s discriminatory justice system, where torture is routinely used against Palestinians.”