The family members of the second terrorist who was shot dead in Hebron last Thursday have been seething in a rage. For one thing, they are upset at what they had seen on the B’Tselem video: that their son, who, together with his buddy, tried to murder an IDF soldier using knives, was killed while lying on the ground. And then as the dead terrorist’s uncle has told several Israeli TV channels: no one has come to apologize to them for the killing, not the prime minister, not the chief of staff. It’s as if would be murderers can be executed in broad daylight nowadays, and no one cares.
OK, the UN cares: the international organization’s Special Coordinator for the Middle East peace process, Nicolay Mladenov has condemned the “gruesome, immoral and unjust act that can only fuel more violence and escalate an already volatile situation” (see today’s story: UN Slams IDF Soldier’s ‘Gruesome, Immoral’ Killing of Terrorist in Hebron). But you’d think someone from the IDF would come to say they’re sorry. Maybe a procession of MKs gathering to honor the brave martyr?
Well, there was Mk Ahmed Tibi (Joint Arab List), who proclaimed last Thursday that “IDF soldiers and police are shooting the Palestinians and executing them in cold blood as a result of the incitement by Israeli ministers and politicians.” Tibi was speaking to Students in Rumania where he is visiting, doing what little he can to promote his country’s good name in the world.
The martyr’s family insist that an Arab pathologist participate in the autopsy, which is part of the IDF investigation. The IDF agreed that an Arab doctor observe the autopsy but not take part in it. The body of the other dead terrorist has already been returned to his family for burial.
Meanwhile, Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon (Likud) attacked Habayit Hayehudi Chairman Naftali Bennett for visiting the family of the shooting soldier and for expressing his support for him. Ya’alon insisted this was a case of a soldier who failed morally, not a hero. “Do you want a bestial army that has lost its moral spine?” Ya’alon asked the Knesset plenum, but meant Bennett.
Bennett’s office responded immediately, saying: “The minister contacted the soldier’s family more than once and will continue to do so. Even if their son made a mistake, the family has the right to speak up and be heard. It’s a family with four combat soldiers, whose world has been destroyed, among other things because of senior politicians who attacked their son the soldier before the facts on the ground had been clarified. The minister sees every man and woman soldier as his own children, and their families are his family, and if anyone sees a problem in such a connection, they are the ones inflicted with severe moral blindness.”
UPDATE: Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is demanding justice for his terrorist.