JERUSALEM (JTA) — The name of Mohammed Abu Khdeir, the Palestinian teenager who was kidnapped and burned alive by Jews in a revenge killing, was removed from Israel’s national memorial at the request of his parents.
The name was removed on Tuesday afternoon, hours after news reports that Khdeir’s name was added to the Victims of Acts of Terror Memorial at Mount Herzl, Ynet reported Tuesday evening.
Israel’s Defense Ministry recognized Khdeir as a civilian victim of terror two weeks after he was murdered, an act that was widely reported. His name on the memorial was noted as Israel prepared to mark Yom Hazikaron, or Memorial Day, which began at sundown Tuesday. It was first reported by Israel Radio.
The dead teen’s father, Hussein, told Ynet on Tuesday that “this is a great initiative meant to honor my son, but I’m more interested with something else entirely: For the court to do justice with those who burned my son alive and sentence them to the appropriate punishment.”
Khdeir, 16, was kidnapped from his eastern Jerusalem neighborhood early on the morning of July 2 and murdered hours later, less than a day after the funerals of Israeli teens Gilad Shaar, Naftali Fraenkel and Eyal Yifrach, who were kidnapped and slain by Palestinians near Hebron.
Three Jews are on trial for beating Khdeir and then setting him on fire. The suspects — Yosef Haim Ben-David, 29, and two 16-year-old males — told investigators that the slaying was in revenge for the kidnapping and murder of the three Israeli teens.
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