JERUSALEM (JTA) — The attack on the West Bank settlement of Halamish that killed three members of one family as they sat at their Shabbat table “was an act of terrorism committed by a reprehensible person incited by wild hatred,” Benjamin Netanyahu said.
In a statement released shortly after the end of the Jewish Sabbath, Israel’s prime minister said that the country’s security forces would “take all necessary measures” to maintain security.
The three victims of the Friday night attack were named immediately after Shabbat as Yosef Salomon, 70, his daughter Chaya Salomon, 46, and son Elad Salomon, 36. Yosef Salomon’s wife, Tovah, 68, remains in serious condition following surgery after being stabbed several times during the attack. Her doctor told Ynet that she “remembers the entire incident well.
Elad Salomon’s wife reported took their five children into another room in the house as the attack unfolded and called security for help.
Israel’s President Reuven Rivlin in a statement issued Saturday night said: “At this difficult time our hearts go out to the bereaved family in Halamish, and to all the community there, after the incomprehensible loss they have endured last night. The difficult pictures, and the thoughts of the children who fled for shelter now dealing with the terrible news – it is truly heartbreaking.
Rivlin expressed his appreciation for Israel’s security forces, saying: “I know that we will show no tolerance for those who plot against us, and we will fight terrorism, mercilessly and without compromise.”
“This is the time for the whole free world to denounce terror and incitement, and join with the State of Israel in the war against terror and incitement. One who does not denounce terror is a partner to it, and has a hand in the deterioration of the whole region into a needless, bloody war, which no one wants,” Riviln also said.
Abed Aljaleel al Abed, the father of Omar al Abed, 19, the terrorist in Friday night’s attack, blamed Israel for his son’s attack.
“Our children are young and the occupation is responsible, not my son,” he said, according to the Jerusalem Post. “The occupation caused this attack after pressing on Al-Aqsa mosque.”
The attacker’s mother said in a videotaped statement: “Praise Allah, I am proud of my son. May Allah be pleased with him.”
The teen said in a Facebook post prior to carrying out the attack that he called his “last testament” that the situation at the Temple Mount inspired his planned attack.
Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman on Saturday from the site of killings called on Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to condemn the attack, a condemnation that was not forthcoming as of late on Saturday night.
