Avigdor Liberman
Avigdor LibermanYonatan Sindel/ Flash 90

Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman (Yisrael Beytenu) called on judges at an army court to sentence a 19-year-old Arab terrorist to death for the murders of three Israeli civilians this summer.

On Wednesday, the court is expected to hear opening arguments in the sentencing phase of Omer al-Abed, the terrorist responsible for the slaughter of three members of the Salomon family inside their home Halamish (Neve Tzuf) on Friday, July 21st.

The Salomons, who were celebrating the birth of their grandson, was hosting a family gathering that Shabbat.

Four members of the Salomon family were wounded in the massacre, three of them fatally, including Yosef Salomon, 70, his daughter Haya, 46, and his son Elad, 36.

Defense Minister Liberman, a proponent of legislation mandating the death penalty for terrorists convicted of murder, urged judges to sentence the killer to death. While Israeli law provides for the death penalty in certain cases, no executions have been carried out since 1962, when Nazi SS commander Adolf Eichmann was hanged for crimes against humanity.

“Day, the punishment for the terrorist who murdered three members of the Salomon family in cold blood in Halamish will be decided,” Liberman tweeted. “The only suitable punishment for despicable acts like these is the death penalty.”

Liberman called on the judges to “sentence the terrorist to death. Jewish blood is not cheap! There is no place for terrorists – not even in our prisons.”

The surviving members of the Salomon family have also called on the court to sentence the terrorist to death – and have called on the Prime Minister to ensure that the sentence is carried out.

According to a report in August, however, Yediot Ahronot wrote that the prosecution had decided not to seek the death penalty for the terrorist, despite the Prime Minister’s backing for such a punishment.