According to officials involved in the ongoing investigation into the murder of Jerusalem Arab teenager Muhmad Abu Khadir, 16, whose burned body was found in the Jerusalem forest, the murder appears to have been a nationalistic crime and not a criminally motivated murder. The body of the victim was discovered on Wednesday morning 4 Tammuz, sparking widespread rioting among Israeli Arabs in a number of places in Yerushalayim and elsewhere. The Israeli Arab community stated with absolute certainty the murder was an act of revenge for the murders of the three kedoshim, Gilad Shaar, Naftali Frenkel and Eyal Yifrach HY”D. Police and ISA (Israel Security Agency – Shin Bet) officials stated that the investigation was receiving high priority but they were unwilling to rule out a honor or criminally motivated killing at the early stages of the probe.
It is now being reported that police are 70-80% certain the motive was nationalistic. Investigators appear to have pieced together the critical pieces of the puzzle, the “critical hours” as they describe the ongoing investigation. Footage obtained from security surveillance cameras shows two people following closely behind the victim shortly before he was abducted.
The burned body was found during the predawn hours on Wednesday morning in the Jerusalem Forest.
There has been widespread rioting in the Israeli Arab sector in the Shuafat and Beit Haninah areas of the capital along with the Old City and other areas, as well as Nachal I’ron and Nazareth.
Three Israelis from Beit Shemesh reportedly have been arrested in connection to the murder. Haaretz reports six arrests were made in the case.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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22 Responses
And the arabs who murdered the jews? Has abbas made any effort to punish those scum?(question purely rhetorical)
While it is certainly wrong,the arabs deserve it for their constantly supporting terror i doubt the victim. Himself didnt live with deepseated hatred of jews
Still no excuse for rioting even if true. In any case the Israeli police are notorious for arresting nationalists without real evidence. So we shall see.
If, heaven forbid, the police are correct, then these miscreants have endangered every Jew in Israel. This news will not be a way to calm current tension on either side.
Commenters 1-3 (two commenters in fact, the only ones I’ve seen) are playing with fire–whether the murky reports eventually become clear or not. We in Israel, and I personally, have had experience with fellow Jews who treated לא תרצח as just another imperative that’s subject to differing sheetos, like what bracha to make over cheesecake. Shame on anyone who needs to be told by this near-ignoramus in Torah that the prohibition of murder predates Jews and allows for no excuses such as “others did it to us,” “What about Abbas?” and the thoughts about Jews that the clairvoyant aryehw planted in Muhammad Abu Khdeir’s mind.
To commenter 4: your point is true but secondary. Lo tirtzah remains an imperative even if done in a way that wouldn’t endanger us. Let’s all ponder it: the possibility that people who shuckled in shul at the recitation of לא תרצח on Shavuos, who roll their tzitzis in their hands every morning to remember כל מצוות ד’, committed this act.
That’s funny. Where did you get this news from. I didn’t see or on the Israeli news!? you believing the Arab liars!???
If this was really a revenge killing then the people who did this are no better than the the arab murderers who killed the three bochurim. Israel wants the world to see that they are the victims and not the perpetrators, and this just shoots themselves in the foot. Just plain stupid…..
Arresting Jews is no proof that they did it. More likely than not, it was Arabs behind it as one of the boy’s parent disclosed to the police initially. The Israeli police always arrest Jews in Yehuda and Shomron when Arabs point their fingers at “settlers” crying about their burnt olive trees (or whatever), even though they did it themselves. One has to be quite naive and inexperienced with the goings on to believe this report.
Finally, a commentator (#5) with שכל.
i dont think any innocent 16 yr old no matter what should be killed(burned??!!),proper revenge would be to burn the terrorist that were responsible alive and slowly,rotisserie style.anytime we hear in the news about an innocent teen killed we should be sad.we are not terrorists and killing a 16 year old arab is not revenge ps:im not convinced they were jewish murderers,more like a 21st century libel
#2 your comment is disgusting. This boy was taken from the street and burnt alive . Yet, you write that somehow this was deserving.
Unfortunatley the common theme by commentators on YWN over the past few days has been to write all types of hate filled comments starting with calls to kill 3000 terrorists in response to the kidnapping of the 3 boys. Next when an Arab boy was murdered and the media suspected Jewish nationalism the commentators called it a media blood libel. Now Jews have been arreseted and the border police have beaten a youth in custody. However instead of showing revulsion at such a henious act they heap scorn and hatred upon the victims.
Would someone explain the difference between a “nationalistic crime” and a “criminal murder”? And, in your explanation, please tie it to words of Torah.
It is a horrible, abhorrent way for anyone to die. But I’m sorry, I just don’t believe MY neighbors in Bet Shemesh were responsible – or any Jew for that matter. I also think it’s a set-up to blame the Jews lest the Arabs riot because it’s an Israeli cover-up. Truth is, they will riot & attack if the sun don’t shine or if it does.)
Torah people talk with their mouths not hands. If you listen to direct news from Eretz Yisroel, the situation is not poshut and we here in comforts of the U.S.A., some away vacationing in the Catskills should think before we comment. Nothing should be said till proven 100%!!!
nfgo3, a “nationalist crime” is an Israel police euphemism for terrorism related to the Arab-Israeli conflict. Criminal murder is all the rest. Torah and modern political science allow states to kill many, many people under certain circumstances. Neither allows murder. As for words of Torah, I have only two: לא תרצח.
to all u idiot responders I in no way condoned it I just commented it that it sickens me how they continually murder for the sake of murdering and the world yawns but when some idiot does the same thing in response now everyone demands blood and condemnations etc. where r all these do gooders when jews are wantonly murdered and we r told to restrain ourselves
Naftush is 100% right!
Lo Sirtzach civilians! May the perpetrators get theirs!
takingabreak, both of your posts would better have gotten stuck in the outbox. Visit Mondoweiss, 972 Magazine and similar to see mirror-images of those posts from the enemy side. We who wear the Torah on our sleeves (literally for an hour or so a day!) and who know the verse הקול קול יעקב have no business sounding like them, let alone acting like them, if that’s what happened. As for decrying “do-gooders,” I once heard from a respected authority to סור מרע ועשה טוב. He couldn’t have meant it, eh?
As for calling us “all u idiot responders,” I urge the other responders not to react; you said it in the heat of agitation.
Naftush, you have both שכל ולב. You leave us no choice but to say about you and people like you: נשיא אלקים אתה בתוכו
!אשריך
I forgot, what are the dinim of milechems chova? Surgical strikes and minimizing civilian casualties? I guess I haven’t chazered the Rambam in a while.
0ne- we should be ‘proud’ of Jewish condemnations. The whole world was silent for 3 weeks when 3 Jews were in peril.
Two- something just doesn’t add up here and it appears as a rush to judgment. Blood libel??
That being said we ALL should take the moral high ground on this if for no other reason than to draw a stark contrast with the rest of the world and Haman in the White House.