News from the world about the religions

British student murdered

Chris McGreal in Jerusalem
Friday August 26, 2005
The Guardian


A Jewish religious student from London has been murdered and another wounded in a knife attack in Jerusalem's old city.
Shmeul Mett, 21, from Golders Green, was stabbed with a kitchen knife as he walked through the Christian quarter of the old city after praying at the Wailing Wall on Wednesday night. He was to have been married in a few weeks.

Mr Mett's flatmate, Sam Weissbart, 22, also from Golders Green, was stabbed above the hip by the same attacker, described as an Arab man, but survived after stumbling to a police station.

The stabbing was the first deadly attack in the old city for three years. Police say the incident was caught on CCTV cameras.

Israel's security minister, Gideon Ezra, said on radio: "Without doubt, this attack was committed by a lone Palestinian who was not part of any movement, which will make the search for him more difficult."

After the attack, Orthodox Jews clashed with the Israeli police over a demand that Mr Mett's body be spared an autopsy for religious reasons. Several hundred men protested outside Hadassah hospital and attacked an ambulance. Four of the protesters were arrested and three policemen were injured.

Yesterday morning, the police agreed to a family request not to carry out an autopsy on Mr Mett. His body was buried later after his parents arrived from London.

Both stabbing victims studied at the Gateshead yeshiva, or religious school, before moving to Jerusalem about 18 months ago, where they attended the Mir yeshiva in Jerusalem's Beit Israel neighbourhood. It is one of the largest in the world, with several thousand students.