The PA praised the terrorist as a “lion” after the sentencing.
By Paul Shindman, World Israel News
Palestinians on Thursday praised the Hamas terrorist who was sentenced to four life terms for the 2018 murder of three Israelis on Wednesday.
Asam Barghouti had confessed to carrying out two 2018 terror attacks at the Ofra and Givat Assaf junctions in the Binyamin region of Samaria that killed two IDF soldiers and a newborn baby.
Veteran Palestinian affairs analyst Yoni Ben Menachem noted that despite Barghouti belonging to the rival Hamas terror organization, the Fatah website of Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas praised Barghouti, calling him a “lion” who “glorifies the security prisoners.”
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh phoned Barghouti’s mother and told her the “unjust ruling against the prisoner Asam is nothing but a medal of honor on the chest of all the Palestinian people” and told her he was proud of the Barghouti family.
On Dec. 13, Barghouti shot and killed Sgt. Yosef Cohen and Staff Sgt. Yoval Mor Yosef at the Givat Assaf junction. Both soldiers served as infantrymen in the IDF’s Netzah Yehuda Kfir Brigade, a special unit for religious soldiers.
Mor Yossef’s parents said they could find no closure as the terrorist had not been sentenced to death.
“He should be hanged in a city square for all to see,” the parents told Ynet.
Barghouti was also involved in the attack with his brother, Salah, at the bus station near the town of Ofra in the Binyamin region in which seven Israelis were injured including Shira Ish-Ran, who lost her unborn child as a result of the shooting.
The extended Barghouti clan is centered in the Palestinian city of Ramallah, just north of Jerusalem. Some of its more notorious members include Marwan Barghouti, the Fatah leader serving five life sentences after being convicted on 26 charges of murder and attempted murder in attacks carried out by the al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades that he commanded, and Omar Barghouti, who is the leader behind the notorious BDS campaign to get Western countries and institutions to cut all ties with Israel.