Family of David Bar Kapara
Family of David Bar KaparaFlash 90

The family of  David Bar Kapara,  the 70-year-old Israeli farmer beaten to death last month, sent a letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the government ministers on Sunday to protest the police's decision to classify the murder as a criminal act and not a terror attack. 

"Unfortunately, not only is there no evidence to prove the criminal motive, on the contrary, the evidence on the ground outright contradicts this claim," the letter states. "Our father was murdered in cold blood during in vineyard in Carmei Yosef, and this by two Palestinians - Mujahid Ali Mahmoud Dar Assi and Alla'a Harbi Abed Al-Fatah Assi, illegal aliens who had infiltrated into Israel from their home in Beit Lakia."

In the letter, which is heavily quoted by Walla! News, the family decries the "cruel injustice" of labeling the beating a mere crime, and states that they intend to prove that the Israel Security Agency (ISA or Shin Bet) is mistaken in its assessment. 

The letter includes a number unanswerable questions that raise the suspicion that the motive may not be criminal. They say a prominent question is the fact that the killers did not steal anything, even though the vehicle at the scene was worth a hundred thousand shekels, and that Kapara was even found carrying cash on his person - yet the ISA deemed the attack 'a robbery gone wrong.'

Moreover, they noted, the killers beat him long after he was incapacitated enough for them to rob him - and they noted particularly that the killers were just 21, whereas Bar Kapara was 70; they did not need to kill him in order to be able rob him. 

Finally, they added that both killers have a history of being involved in terror. 

"The murder reflects a common perception of disrespect toward Jewish lives," the family claims. "Now we are witnessing the severe results of numerous exemptions that were given during Ramadan [that led to terror - ed.]. Calling this a 'crime' conceals the fact that the act was committed with a distinctly nationalistic [i.e. terrorist] type of endless cruelty, which manifested itself in the blows our father suffered and in the way he was left behind in a pool of his own blood." 

The family sent the letter to - among others - Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu; Housing and Construction Minister Yoav Galant (Kulanu); Economy Minister Aryeh Deri (Shas); Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon (Kulanu); Education Minister Naftali Bennett (Jewish Home); Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked (Jewish Home); Deputy Defense Minister Rabbi Eli Ben-Dahan (Jewish Home); and MKs Yair Lapid (Yesh Atid), Moti Yogev (Jewish Home), Betzalel Smotrich (Jewish Home), and Yaron Mazuz (Likud).