Israel has released dozens of terrorists who murdered Israeli citizens as part of the ongoing negotiations with the Palestinian Authority.
Following one recent prisoner release, Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas victoriously lifted the hand of one terrorist, Issa Abd Rabbo, and proclaimed him a hero.
Rabbo has now given an interview in which he details the act that led to Abbas’ praise: the bloody murder of two Israeli university students, a young man and woman, as they hiked in Jerusalem.
Rabbo spoke to the Bethlehem-based Maan news agency in an interview translated by Palestinian Media Watch.
Rabbo revealed that he had originally intended to shoot at a bus carrying Israeli soldiers. However, he said, “I waited, waited, waited and the bus didn’t come…. An Israeli car approached, with two in it. I said, here’s a chance and I don’t want to return empty-handed.”
He waited until the young students sat down to rest, then approached them carrying his rifle, he recalled. The young man, Ron Levi, addressed him, he said.
“He asked me, Are you a guard here? I told him, 'No, I'm in my home.' I told him, 'You are not allowed here. This is our land and our country. You stole it and occupied our land and I'm going to act against you,’” Rabbo said.
“I tied them up of course and then sentenced them to death by shooting, in the name of the revolution. I shot them, one bullet each,” he declared.
Rabbo’s victims were 23-year-old Ron Levy and 22-year-old Revital Seri.
He described his family’s reaction to the news that he had murdered two young Israeli hikers. “I went to my aunt and told her ‘We have avenged Mohammed’s blood,’” he said, referring to his cousin Mohammed Abd Rabbo.
“I told her, ‘Instead of one, we got two.’ She cried out in joy,” he said.
In an earlier interview, freed murderer Asrar Samrin described shooting and killing a man as he drove with his children. Samrin pointed out that he did not shoot the man’s daughter, who witnessed her father’s slaying. “I could have shot her, but I didn’t kill her,” he said.