Amjad Awad, 19, on Tuesday (6 Tishrei) pleaded guilty to his part in the murders of the Fogel family of Itamar HY”D last year, together with his cousin Hakim, who was already sentenced. The court is reviewing his evidence towards deciding if the guilty plea will be accepted.
Amjad was the mastermind in the massacre of the parents and three children. Hakim shot Ruth, the mother, as well as holding down the children while Amjad stabbed them.
When Hakim was sentenced last month he did not express any remorse for the murders of Udi (36), Ruth (35), Yoav (11), Elad (3), and Hadas (3 months) HY”D.
When he had his chance to speak out on Tuesday, Amjad did not express remorse and felt compelled to add that he would do it again if given the opportunity, even if he knew he would face the death penalty.
Former IDF Chief Rabbi Avichai Ronsky is calling for the death penalty in this crime due to its heinous nature, stating that an exception must be made.
The only case in which the death penalty was actually carried out in Israel was in 1962, in the case of Nazi war criminal Adolph Eichmann.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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2 Responses
I am sick of these news pieces that try to determine if the perp of a murder had remorse. What do we care if he had remorse? “The blood of your brother is crying out to you from the earth.” It will not be silenced until the legal system executes the criminal, which, thanks to the liberals, is not going to happen.
He’s not really a criminal in the classic sense. He’s basically a solider who was quite willing to follow orders on behalf of his country, which happens to be at war with Israel and sees killing civilians as a reasonable way to accomplish his goal. It is as unreasonable to expect him to show “remorse” as to expect any soldier who kills the enemy in wartime (such as all those American and British airmen who killed thousands of Japanese and German civilians by bombing their cities). While there has always been a view that soldiers shouldn’t kill non-combattants, that has always been a minority view – and in general is only followed by countries that are not involved in wars.
The people to blame are the people who give the orders, not the ones who follow them. Trashing the guy’s relatives’ houses is a waste of time. Trashing the Palestinian leadership might be much more effective. If you kill the general who orders the private to murder civilians, he’ll stop giving such orders. It is unlikely the private is someone who would likely kill people left to his own devices (unlike a regular “perp”). It is dubious if it is wise to execute enemy prisoners as they were willing to die for the cause when the signed up (no deterrent effect), and they make good hostages.
To compare to a similar situation: executing privates who enjoyed following orders to kill Jews during WWII has not had any effect on preventing a renewal of Naziism. Conquering Germany, killing its leaders, and forcing all Germans to believe they had nothing to do with the government they elected and supported, etc. – has in fact rendered Germany quite harmless from out perspective (and note that even if they were allowed to participate in politics, the Nazis have little support in Germany).