(JTA) — An official from Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas’ office said that Abbas was misled before he accused Israelis of executing a Palestinian boy who is recovering from wounds he sustained while trying to stab Jews.
The statement by the unnamed official from Abbas’ office Friday came after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Abbas of spreading “incitement and lies” by describing what happened to 13-year-old Ahmed Mansara in Jerusalem on Oct. 12 as a cold-blooded execution.
Gal Berger, Israel Radio’s reporter on the Arab world, said that an official from Abbas’ office told him that Abbas “was given the incorrect information right before the speech as a last-minute addition.”
In the speech in Ramallah on Wednesday, Abbas spoke out against “aggression by Israel and its settlers, who commit terror against our people” and who “execute our children in cold blood, as they did to the child Ahmed Mansara and other children in Jerusalem and elsewhere.”
Ahmed Mansara and his 17-year-old cousin, Hassan, were filmed stabbing a 25-year-old man in Pisgat Zeev, a neighborhood in northeastern Jerusalem, causing the man serious injuries before stabbing a second victim – a 13-year-old Jewish boy who was stabbed in the neck after exiting a candy store, according to news.walla.co.il.
Police officers shot and killed Hassan Mansara as he ran toward them wielding a knife. Ahmed Mansara was shot and taken to hospital in serious condition. His condition is stable, according to Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem.
