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Israel’s defense minister cancels meeting with grieving families

Defense Minister Liberman’s office called to cancel the meeting with the families who lost loved ones on October 7.

By David Isaac, World Israel News

Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman canceled a meeting Wednesday planned with the grieving families of two Jews killed at the Barkan Industrial Park in Samaria on Oct. 7.

The minister’s office called the families to cancel the meeting Wednesday morning, citing as the reason a conversation with a lieutenant colonel, whose call the families apparently recorded and leaked to the press.

Last night, the families took part in a torch-lit march to protest the Israeli Army’s decision to destroy only two stories of the terrorist’s home.

Hundreds joined in solidarity. The march, which was the initiative of Shomron Regional Head Yossi Degel and the Shomron Settlements Committee, took place at the industrial park, the site of the shooting.

IDF’s Central Command chief Maj.-Gen. Nadav Padan gave the demolition order Tuesday to destroy only the part of the home where the terrorist, Ashraf Naalowa, lived. The home is in the village of Shweika near the city of Tulkarem.

On October 7, Naalowa shot 28-year-old Kim Levengrond-Yehezkel and 35-year-old Ziv Hajbi – at the Alon recycling plant located at the industrial park. Naalowa, a former employee of the plant, forced an Arab janitor to bind the victims, and then shot them at point blank range. He later shot and injured a third employee.

“I can’t believe I’m in the place where she was killed and I really hope we will be the last family to mourn,” said Kim’s sister during the march

Naalowa remains at large as Israeli security forces hunt for him.

TPS contributed to this story.