Pictured Above: A view of the Al-Aqsa mosque on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount. Credit: Andrew Shiva via Wikimedia Commons.

(JNS) A Palestinian terrorist who critically injured an Israeli security guard after stabbing him in the heart at the Jerusalem Central Bus Station on Dec. 10 was charged Thursday with attempted murder as an act of terror and illegally entering Israel.

According to the indictment, 24-year-old terrorist Yassin Abu al-Qur’a stabbed the security guard to avenge the U.S. recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, and intended to murder as many Jews as possible to “defend Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa mosque.”

On the day of the terror attack, al-Qur’a removed his coat at the station’s entrance, drew a large knife and then plunged it directly into 46-year-old security guard Asher Elmaliach’s heart.

The terrorist was quickly apprehended and the security guard was evacuated to Jerusalem’s Shaarei Tzedek Hospital, where he remains in stable but serious condition.

Hours before the attack, the terrorist wrote on Facebook, “Please let our blood be spilled—for it is of little matter to spill one’s blood for our homeland, for Jerusalem, and for the Al Aqsa Mosque.”

Israeli police are still searching for a second Palestinian suspect who may have served as an accomplice in the terror attack.

The stabbing came after the Gaza-ruling Palestinian terror group Hamas called for a violent uprising in response to the recent U.S. policy changes on Jerusalem.

Al-Qur’a is reportedly the son of a retired Palestinian Authority (PA) general, Yousef al-Qur’a. Several al-Qur’a family members hold high-level positions in the PA security forces.

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