Nearly ten years after his wife and three children were murdered in a terror attack in Itamar, Boaz Shabo said on Tuesday that he has mixed feelings over Gilad Shalit’s return from captivity.
Shabo lost his wife and three of his seven children in a terrorist attack on June 20, 2002. A Palestinian Authority Arab terrorist infiltrated Itamar and began shooting in all directions. He then ran to the Shabo family house, which he entered and began his murderous spree. Soldiers and Border Guard police encircled the house, and the exchange of fire continued even after some soldiers bravely entered the house. They forced the terrorist upstairs while they rescued the four surviving children inside, two of whom were hurt.
The terrorist was shot and killed when he jumped from the second floor - but not before the house caught fire when a bullet hit a gas canister. The house was largely destroyed.
Boaz’s wife Rachel, 40, and three of their seven children - Neriah, 15, Tzvika, 12 and Avishai, 5 - were murdered in the attack. Itamar resident and emergency team member Yossi Tuito was also murdered when he arrived at the home in an effort to help.
Boaz and his remaining four children moved to nearby Kedumim shortly after the attack.
“We had a conversation with the children in the sukkah,” he told Arutz Sheva on Tuesday. “On the one hand we are excited for Gilad and his family. It is important that soldiers come home and we wish the same for Ron Arad. But on the other hand, the state is paying a heavy price, the price of surrendering and of releasing terrorists with blood on their hands. They always said it wouldn’t happen and here it is happening. The feeling is a sense of lawlessness, as if the terror victims are not being counted. We paid a high price and suddenly the state releases the murderers.”
Shabo argued that because of this situation, there is no point in arresting terrorists.
“They’re going to release them anyway,” he said. “The people who murdered our families go home where they’re given festivals and celebrations.”
He added that he believes that the death penalty for terrorists will not be legislated in Israel and so the solution is to deport terrorists and destroy their homes.
“It hurts them the most when you touch their lands and their families,” Shabo said. “They need to be deported to Arab countries along with their families.”
Boaz’s children, now in their twenties, are still trying to digest the Shalit deal, he said.
“Yariv is now 26, Atara is 25 and Asael is 18. I saw that Asael wrote on Facebook today, ‘I'm happy for Gilad but sad for my mother and my brothers.’”
“At least in our case, the terrorist who initiated the attack and drove the terrorist is still in prison, we just hope that he will not be released in the next deal,” Shabo said. “The terrorist who committed the murders was killed during the operation and I salute the troops who killed him.”