fbpx

News

Funeral held of three family members killed in terror attack

[ssba]

Yosef Salomon, aged 70, and his children Chaya Salomon, aged 46, and Elad Salomon, aged 36, were killed by 19-year-old Palestinian Omar al-Abed after he entered the West Bank settlement of Neve Tzuf/Halamish and attacked them in their home as they were celebrating the birth of a new grandchild.

The assailant was incapacitated by an off-duty soldier, who shot him with a single bullet to the stomach. He was then taken for treatment. His mother, Rachel Maoz, said her son made sure that there would not be another incident there like that of Elor Azaria. “Of course, there are all sorts of stupid people who say, ‘why didn’t you finish him off?’… We don’t do things like that. We are not murderers. We just defend.”

Yosef’s wife, Tova, aged 68, was also seriously wounded in the attack, but was released from hospital to be able to join the mourners at the funeral.

In initial questioning, al-Abed said he bought the knife two days before the stabbing, and wanted to commit a terror attack because of the tensions surrounding the Temple Mount since the 14 July attack at the holy site.

Elad Salomon’s wife, Michal told Israeli Channel 2 that her husband fought back against the terrorist during Friday’s attack in order to protect their children – aged five, nine, eleven and one-year-old twins.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the attack was “heartbreaking” and “cruel terrorism, the product of a vast, unchecked hatred toward Jews”.

President Reuven Rivlin said that “The acts of terror, the violence on and off the mountain so holy to Jews and Arabs, must be condemned and must be stopped”.