WarSclerotic

Police: Abu Khder Suspects ‘Connected Themselves’ to Murder

Remand for 6 suspects in custody over alleged involvement in the murder of Mohammed Abu Khder was extended

By Yaakov LeviFirst Publish: 7/6/2014, 8:28 PM

via Police:Suspects ‘Connected Themselves’ to Murder – Defense/Security – News – Arutz Sheva.

Six suspects were in custody Sunday night on suspicion of being involved in the murder of Mohammed Abu Khder. The six were arrested earlier Sunday.

According to Channel Ten news, police were granted a request Sunday afternoon to extend the remand of five of the six for eight days. The sixth one will remain in custody for five days. Earlier reports said that three of the six had been released. Reports also said that the six are mostly members of an extended family, and live in Jerusalem, Beit Shemesh, and the town of Adam in the Binyamin region.

Police sources have also said that the six “connected themselves” to the incident. Channel Two said that one of the six confessed to the crime and implicated the others.

The Honenu rights organization, which often represents suspects in alleged “price tag” and other incidents, has taken it upon itself to represent the suspects in this case as well. At a press conference Sunday, Honenu attorney Uri Keinan said he was still learning details of the investigation. “At this stage we cannot discuss the details of the investigation, considering the fact that we have not even met the clients yet,” he said. However, he said that he had no doubt that his clients were innocent. “At the end of the investigation we are sure that our clients will be proven to have had no connection tot the incident whatsoever and will be free to go,” he said.

Working with Keinan will be attorney Adi Keidar. “We are still learning the details of the case,” he said. “From what we understand the police and Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) are having difficulty connecting the suspects with this specific incident. I am very hopeful that the other lines of investigation that have been raised will be pursued as well. If my clients are found not to have any connection to this incident the authorities will have to explain to them and their families why they were arrested in the first place.”

Rioters clash with police in northern Israel

Residents hurl stones, firebombs at police in Tamra, Nazareth; stretches of highway 70 closed to traffic; police gear up for further clashes

By Times of Israel staff

via The Times of Israel | News from Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish World.

Clashes between Palestinians and Israeli police reignited on Sunday afternoon for the fifth day running, shortly after the Shin Bet confirmed that several Jewish suspects had been arrested in connection with the murder of East Jerusalem teenager Muhammed Abu Khdeir, 16.

A number of riots erupted in northern Israel, off of Routes 70 and 65, and in areas near Nazareth. Police were dispatched to quell the violence, but police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld maintained the area was “relatively quiet.”

Some 200 Israeli-Arabs demonstrated at the entrance of the northern Israel town of Tamra, as residents hurled stones and firebombs at riot police on the scene.

Police arrested 11 people in Tamra, the Ynet news site reported.

Concurrently, dozens of others rallied at the Yabor junction off of Route 70. Stretches of the highway, as well as the main road in Nazareth were closed to traffic.

Meanwhile, three Palestinians laborers were attacked in the Israeli town of Hadera. One was lightly injured in the scuffle, and police are investigating the incident.

Police have beefed up their presence in the capital and up north, and anticipate further clashes in the evening after observers of the Muslim Ramadan break their fasts.

The most recent wave of violence comes hours after the police and Shin Bet confirmed that several Jewish suspects are in custody in connection with the abduction and killing of Abu Khdeir. The Shin Bet security service says the slaying was likely nationalistically motivated, in response to the killings of Gil-ad Shaar, 16, Naftali Fraenkel, 16, and Eyal Yifrach, 19.

On Saturday, the Palestinian Authority attorney-general, Dr. Muhammed Abed al-Ghani al-Aweiwi, said that Abu Khdeir was burned alive, according to the preliminary findings of the autopsy.

Abu Khdeir’s killing sparked widespread violent protests throughout East Jerusalem and in other parts of Israel since his body was found.

Comment: Facing the ugly truth | JPost | Israel News.

( “Even the worst Jewish extremist couldn’t resort to that level of barbarism, we tried to convince ourselves. After all, we still have our Jewish values.”  These had been my exact thoughts.  Jews are a collective society.  There’s no ducking responsibility for actions other Jews take.  I’m in stunned horror and grief.   May God forgive us.  – JW )

By DAVID BRINN

07/06/2014 17:03

Details recently revealed in case of murdered Palestinian teen raise questions about who we are and who we are becoming.

The disclosure of the suspects in last week’s horrific murder of Shuafat teen Muhammad Abu Khdeir represents – aside from the assassination of prime minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1995 – the darkest hour for the Jewish state since Baruch Goldstein went on a rampage 20 years ago in Hebron, killing 29 Palestinian worshipers and injuring 115 more.

It was so easy to think over the last few days that it couldn’t have been Jews who dragged the 16-year-old Khdeir into their car, drove him to the Jerusalem Forest, set him on fire and despicably murdered him as revenge for the equally brutal deaths of teenagers Gil-Ad Shaer, Naftali Fraenkel, and Eyal Yifrah. Let it be an internal Arab feud or an honor killing. Even the worst Jewish extremist couldn’t resort to that level of barbarism, we tried to convince ourselves. After all, we still have our Jewish values.

But the facts leading up to Khdeir’s death were impossible to ignore. At the same time that the three Israeli victims were being eulogized and buried last Wednesday, an angry Jewish mob was marching on Jerusalem’s Jaffa Road shouting “Death to Arabs” and “Revenge” while they attempted to storm businesses employing Arab workers and demand their ouster.

Arrests by the police and condemnation by civic and political leaders did little to quell the thirst for Arab blood, however. And a few hours later, the revolting events played out that were revealed by the police Sunday.

It raises questions about who we are and who we are becoming. Granted, Israeli and Palestinian societies reacted so differently to the murders of their countrymen. Israelis grieved, held rallies, called for unity and struggled with how to make things better. A few thugs amid the vast majority decided to take revenge. Arab communities, on the other hand, have reacted by widespread rock throwing, dragging Jews out of their cars and setting the vehicles on fire, and violent civil disobedience. The fact that Arab society still doesn’t know how to express itself without violence is an issue that only they can deal with, if they so choose.

The behavior of Jewish citizens of Israel is an issue for all of us. Regardless of the anger, hate and urge for vengeance that we feel when yet another terror attack occurs and Palestinians kill yet another innocent Israeli, there is no room for vigilantes.

It’s time to decide what kind of society we want to be: one where excessive beating of suspects by Border Police are accepted with a roll of the eyes and ‘what can you do’ shrug, one where Jewish brutes yelling “death to Arabs” is tolerated and some circles, even encouraged, or one where there is zero tolerance for such behavior. Anti-Arab racism and Jewish terror are now out in the open for everyone to see, and can no longer be swept under the couch.

With the events over the last week threatening to unravel into a larger, long-term conflict, and with our leaders unable or unwilling to lead, it’s time for the citizens of Israel to wake up and say, ‘enough.’

It’s been clear for a long time to anyone not blinded by ideology that Jews and Arabs are destined to share this land. As we continue to inflict atrocities upon each other and the differences between the extremists on both sides blur into one ugly stain, it’s also become clear why we’re still embroiled in this never-ending struggle – we deserve each other.