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Israel indicts Jordanian citizen who searched for IDF soldier to kill

Haifa court charges Jordanian resident who illegally entered Israel with attempting to carry out a terrorist attack.

By World Israel News Staff

A Haifa district court indicted Mohammed Matzlach, 21, a Jordanian citizen, after he attempted to stab a policeman in the city of Hadera last month.

Matzlach had entered Israel with the intention of killing an IDF soldier.

He was indicted on charges of preparing to carry out a terrorist attack, entering Israel illegally, aggravated assault, possession of a knife and assault of a policeman.

At the time of his arrest, Matzlach was identified as a Palestinian Arab who was in Israel illegally. His Jordanian citizenship emerged in news reports on Monday.

Ynet reports that Matzlech entered the Palestinian Authority-controlled territories from Jordan and stayed with his sister in the village of Deir al-Ghuson.

To carry out his attack, he took a 17-cm knife, and on the morning of July 22 left his house and slipped into Israel through a broken fence near a kibbutz. He took a bus to the city of Hadera where he walked the streets for hours looking for a lone soldier to attack.

At around 11:00 p.m., Israeli policemen identified him sitting on a bus stop bench. He raised the suspicion of one of them. When the officer asked him for identity papers, and it became clear he didn’t have any, the policeman took hold of his arm and told him he was under arrest.

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After a struggle, Matzlach broke free and started running with his knife with the police in pursuit. When one of the policemen became concerned that Matzlach would try to stab a passerby he shot at him but missed.

After a chase, several policemen surrounded Matzlach, who picked up a large rock as well. When the policemen told him to drop his weapons, he refused and moved toward them shouting “Allahu Akbar.”

One policeman shot the terrorist in his left leg.

After initially denying the charges, Matzlach admitted he had intended to carry out a terrorist attack.