There was shock and relief when the news broke in 2002 of the arrest of Sufian Bakri Abdu, an employee of Jerusalem’s popular Café Rimon who planned to poison patrons during the so-called Second Intifada. The Jerusalem resident was tried and convicted and was now released from prison, fourteen years later. He was greeted with fanfare in the home of his parents in the Jabil Mukhaber neighborhood of the capital, receiving a hero’s welcome.

Sufian was working with a chef in the popular café, Utman Said Kianyah, as the latter agreed to put the poison given to him by Sufian into the food served to guests.

If all went according to plan, the poison would not take effect for about 15 hours, and this they were confident would make it more difficult to determine they were poisoned, but more likely list the cause of death as heart attack and cardiac arrest. B’chasdei Hashem the diabolic plot was detected in time.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)