‘I don’t hate terrorists,’ says father, husband of terror victims

Bereaved father says he believes that most Palestinians are “decent people,” but poll finds that 74% support deadly terror attacks against Jews.

By Adina Katz, World Israel News

Rabbi Leo Dee, whose British-Israeli wife and daughters were murdered earlier in April in a brutal terror attack in Judea and Samaria, said that he does not hate the perpetrators of the attack and that he still trusts Palestinians.

On April 7th, the Dee family was traveling in two separate cars from their home in Efrat towards the Galilee for a Passover vacation. The car carrying mother Lucy, 48, and daughters Maia, 20, and Rina, 15, was targeted by unknown gunmen, who repeatedly shot the three at point-blank range.

Maia and Rina Dee were declared dead at the scene. Lucy Dee clung to life in the hospital but died two days after the attack. Three other children – two daughters and a son – and father Leo were travelling in a separate car and were unharmed.

The perpetrators of the attack have not yet been apprehended.

“I have no hatred towards the… terrorists,” Dee told Channel 12 in an interview on Sunday. “I obviously would like them to be captured and to be treated with full justice that they deserve, but mostly to stop them from doing anything like this ever again.”

Speaking to Israeli TV stations and outlets outside his home in Efrat, Dee said that he received condolences from Palestinians following the slaughter of his family members.

“I’ve had some Palestinian friends of mine from the neighboring villages who have left messages in tears, because I’ve known them for many years, they’ve known Lucy, they’ve known the girls,” Dee said, noting that his family came into contact with them when they did construction work and gardening at their home.

“We’ve spent a lot of time together….I would spend the day working from home while they came, and we would end up chatting, having coffee, talking about their kids, talking about our kids. We trusted them, I trusted them completely with the family. I still do, more so than any other people I know. Complete trust and love.

“When I spoke to one of my friends recently, he said ‘look, we love you,’” Dee said, adding that he thinks most Palestinians are “decent people.”

Notably, polls have found that the vast majority of Palestinians do support deadly terror attacks against Jews.

According to a March 2023 poll from the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PCPSR), a staggering 74% of Palestinians had a favorable opinion about the shooting attack that claimed the lives of brothers Yagel and Hallel Yaniv at the Huwara junction – an attack that was very similar to that perpetrated against the Dee women.

In a previous statement to the media, Dee called the terrorists “a product of a broken culture that does not differentiate between good and evil, so he cannot see a future for himself.”