Misbah Abu Sbeih, the Palestinian terrorist who killed two and injured another 6 people today in Yerushalayim, was a 39-year-old from the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan who was supposed to have turned himself into prison at that exact time, according to Ma’an news.
Abu Sbeih, who also lived in the village of al-Ram, told Ma’an via telephone on Shabbos that he had decided to turn himself into the Israeli Ramla prison at 10 a.m. on Sunday to serve a four-month prison sentence for allegedly assaulting an Israeli police officer.
The report by Ma’an says that Abu Sbeih had said that “the decision to turn himself in came after being repeatedly harassed by Israeli police, as he was detained five times over the past two weeks, in some cases for a period of days, sometimes for hours.”
The report adds: “On Oct. 2, he was banned from the whole of East Jerusalem for a month, after he had already been banned from entering the Al-Aqsa Mosque for six months. In July, he was also issued a travel ban until the end of the year.”
According to sources in East Jerusalem, Abu Sbeih was known to some as “The Lion of Jerusalem,” for being on the “front lines” in “defending” the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Old City.”
“Ahead of Jewish holidays, the Israeli occupation applies a well-known policy, but this time they took it too far,” Abu Sbieh told Ma’an, referring to heightened security measures during the Yomim Tovim. “Last week, Israeli police detained 15 Palestinians in East Jerusalem on the eve of Rosh Hashanah… Jerusalem is under a serious threat of ‘Judaization’ and is under an unprecedented attack by the Israeli authorities.”
In his last Facebook post, Abu Sbeih wrote about the mosque on the Har Habayis: “How I yearn for my love and wish it would be the last thing I see, to kiss and kneel on its soil and pray! They gave me four months in prison because I love you (Al-Aqsa), but I replied, ‘That is nothing. I am prepared to give up my life and all of my money for you.’ Though I can’t enter Al-Aqsa, my soul, my heart, and my eyes will never forget you.”
In the following video, Abu Sbeih can be seen being released from prison to his family about a year ago.
WATCH:
{Matzav.com Israel News Bureau}
