No death penalty for vile terrorist who slaughtered family, despite Netanyahu support

Despite calls issued by Netanyahu and senior cabinet ministers for the death of a vile terrorist, Israel’s policy against the death penalty “remains unchanged,” the IDF’s military prosecutor declared.

IDF Military Advocate General Brig. Gen. Sharon Afek will not be seeking to impose the death penalty on Omar al-Abed, the 19-year-old Palestinian terrorist who slaughtered three members of one family last month during their Shabbat dinner, Ynet News reported.

Abed broke into their home in Halamish, aka Neve Tzuf, a Jewish community in Samaria, and stabbed 70-year-old Yossi Salamon, his son Elad, 36, and his daughter Chaya, 46; Yossi’s wife Tova, 68, was seriously wounded. The extended family was there to celebrate the birth of a new grandchild. When the attack occurred, they were awaiting the arrival of the first guests.

Elad’s wife and five children escaped upstairs until a neighbor, an off-duty IDF soldier who heard the screams, shot and neutralized the terrorist.

“It’s time for the death penalty for terrorists,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the bereaved family during a condolence visit.

The death penalty “is anchored in law. We need here unanimity among the judges, but they also want to know the government’s position. And my position as prime minister, in this case, of such a despicable murderer, is that you must execute him,” Netanyahu stated.

The terrorist “should not smile any more,” he added, likely referring to a photo of the murderer smiling in a Jerusalem hospital bed, where Al-Abed was being treated for gunshot wounds.

In fact, he will now receive $3,120 a month from the Palestinian Authority, which refuses to stop funding terror.

Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman and Minister of Education and Diaspora Affairs Naftali Bennett, chairman of the Jewish Home party, also called on the IDF’s prosecution to demand the death penalty for Omar al-Abed.

At the end of last week, however, the Legal Forum for Israel also joined the prime minister in supporting the death penalty, Ynet reported. The Forum’s attorney, Yossi Fox, approached Brig. Gen. Sharon Afek, the IDF prosecutor, demanding that the military court hand down the punishment, reminding him that the measure had the backing of several other senior ministers, including Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman, Education Minister Naftali Bennett and Intelligence Minister Yisrael Katz.

Death Penalty for Terrorists ‘Aims to Preserve Peace’

“Even though the State Attorney’s Office is independent in its decisions to file indictments, and despite the fact that this is a matter of policy and general punishment, (the death penalty) aims to preserve peace and create a deterrence which will prevent these kinds of massacres,” Fox said, according to Ynet. “It is within the authority of the entire defense establishment up to the level of the security cabinet headed by the prime minister.”

Two days ago, the report continues, Afek’s bureau chief, Maj. Eli Levertov, told Fox in response: “The military prosecutor works day and night to bring justice to terrorists who have harmed or attempted to harm the state’s citizens. The policy of law enforcement agencies in Israel is not to demand the death penalty, even when the right to do so is enshrined in law. This policy has been examined throughout the years … and has remained unchanged.”

Fox replied, saying it was “inconceivable that the general policy of punishment for terrorists at the height of the wave of terror is determined by the military advocate general contrary to the position of the prime minister and the other cabinet ministers.”

By: World Israel News Staff