A Jewish girl of 11 and a boy of 18 today went on Trial for their lives before a Jerusalem military court. The defendants, Rachel Kuka and Eliahu Michaeli, are charged with the July 8 Jaffa Gate bombing in which four Arabs were killed and 18 others wounded.
The girl, who was born in Baghdad, is small, pale, illiterate and seems even younger than eleven. She has been confined in the Bethlehem women’s prison since her arrest. She told the police, when arrested on accusation of Arabs near the scene of the bombing:” I don’t know what a bomb is.”
Before the trial the court proceeded to the Jaffa Gate where it attempted unsuccessfully to reconstruct the bombing, the Judges throwing tomatoes in the direction and to the distance that the bomb was allegedly hurled by Michaeli. Police Armorer Sergeant Knight, testifying as an expert, said he believed the bomb was not thrown, but planted under the seat of a bus. Two Arabs testified that Miss Kuka passed the bomb to Michaeli to be thrown. Their testimony, however, contained several contradictions, such as a statement that the girl screamed in Yiddish, whereas the girl is from Baghdad and does not know Yiddish. During the recess the presiding judge purchased chocolate for the young defendant.
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.
