Ra’am chairman Mansour Abbass met Israeli lawyer Ephraim Dimri ten years ago in an effort to convince him to represent the murderers of five members of the Fogel family, who were killed in Itamar by terrorists in 2011, Channel 13 News journalist Ayala Hasson reported on Motzei Shabbos.

Dimri refused to confirm Hasson’s comments but didn’t deny them either. “I cannot confirm the names of those who met with me and asked me to represent the suspects of the murders of the Fogel family,” he told Hasson.

Hasson persisted, asking Dimri: “Was there a black Adidas bag with thousands of dollars for you to represent the suspects?…Deny that it was Mansour Abbas.”

Dimri responded: “I can’t say anything. I maintain the confidentiality of the people who meet with me.”

Alichai Ben Yishai, the brother of Ruti Fogel, h’yd, responded to the report: “Ayala Hasson publicizes that Mansour Abbas appealed to a lawyer to represent the murderers of my sister Rus, her husband Ehud and their three children, Yoav, Elad and Hadas Fogel, h’yd. The mask has been lifted.”

“The shaking of hands, smiles, and money transfers from his coalition partners are another stabbing of the murdered kedoshim. The sound of my brothers’ blood is shouting at me from the ground.”

Abbas vehemently denied the report, saying: “I deny any connection to Attorney Ephraim and demand that he reveal the identity of the people who approached him to represent the murderers a decade ago. Ayala Hasson’s repeated efforts to link Ra’am to terrorism and the heinous murder of the Fogel family a decade ago are part of a methodical and deliberate false campaign by political interests and are doomed to failure.”

A week ago, Channel 13 News reported that the R’a’am party transferred funds it received from the Bennett government to Hamas through a nonprofit organization.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)