The leader of three terrorists arrested for fatally stabbing yeshiva student Eliahu Ambi in the Old City Saturday was one of more than a thousand security prisoners released from Israeli jails in a 1985 exchange for three soldiers held by terrorists in Lebanon, Haaretz reported Tuesday. He recently completed another prison term.
He has not been identified by name but his terrorist connection is with the Syrian-backed Abu Musa gang of El Fatah dissidents opposed to Palestine Liberation Organization chairman Yasir Arafat, according to reports. The pro-Arafat “Force 17” of El Fatah claimed responsibility for the stabbing but Israeli authorities say the killers were operating for George Habash’s Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, based in Damascus.
The terrorist suspect was sentenced to 11 months for membership in a terrorist organization after being freed in the prisoner exchange, and only just released. According to reports, he was mocked by fellow prisoners for the relatively inconsequential offense for which he was sentenced the second time and was determined to prove himself by stabbing a Jew.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
