IDF demolishes home of Halamish attacker
Military prosecutor to file murder charges against Omar al-Abed
Security forces demolished the house of the Palestinian terrorist who killed three Israelis in a stabbing attack in Halamish, the IDF said on Wednesday.
IDF troops, along with border police and the Civil Administration personnel, entered Kobar near Ramallah early on Wednesday and razed the bottom floor of an apartment building that belonged to the family of 19-year-old Omar al-Abed.
Military prosecutors are expected to file charges against Abed on Thursday. On July 21, Abed infiltrated Halamish and entered a family home where he stabbed to death Yossi, Elad and Chaya Salomon and wounded the mother of the family, Tova Salomon.
The widow of Elad Salomon, Michal, said the demolition was not enough.
“They can rebuild their house but mine has been destroyed forever,” she said. “There should be a death penalty so these terrorists can never build their home, and if not a death penalty, there should be an extreme crackdown on their terms of imprisonment, precluding them from having anything but the bare minimum.”
The day after the attack, Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman instructed security forces to speed up the procedures to demolish Abed’s home. The demolition, less than a month after the attack, was relatively fast and comes a week after Israel razed the homes of the terrorists who killed border policewoman Hadas Malka, 23, and soldier Elichai Taharlev, 20, in separate incidents two months ago.
The attack in Halamish was stopped by an off-duty Oketz canine unit soldier who heard the screams of the victims from his home. He took his pistol and ran to the window of the house with his father where he shot one bullet through the window neutralizing Abed.
Identified only as Sgt. A. and his father, Shimon Maoz, they then entered the house and called security.
During interrogations Abed admitted to carrying out the attack because of the tensions surrounding the Temple Mount and that he had published a Facebook post where he stated that he was expecting to die, just before he left his village to carry out the attack.
The day after the attack, forces carried out an extensive operation in Kobar, arresting his brother and mapping his home in preparation for demolition. Other relatives, including his father, mother, another brother and a cousin, have since been arrested and transferred to security forces for questioning.
Police say that they all knew of Abed’s intentions and took no action to stop him or inform Israeli or Palestinian authorities, and on Tuesday the military prosecution said it would likely file charges against them.