Shortly before the IDF revealed the identities of the two murderers of five members of the Fogel family, activists with the extreme Israeli left went to visit one killer's family – and condemn Israel for detaining him.
Members of Women for Peace (Nashim L'Shalom), Gush Shalom, and Adam Lelo Gvulot traveled to the Palestinian Authority-controlled village of Awarta, next to Itamar, where the IDF had been conducting intensive investigations into the recent attack.
“The atrocity we saw in the home of Mohammed Awad can only be described as a pogrom, as primitive and brutal revenge aimed at putting fear in residents' hearts,” activist Yaakov Manur wrote of the visit one week ago. “The father, 45-year-old Mohammed, his son Majdi, 20, a third-year student in university, son Amjad, 19, a second-year student at university, and Hakem, 17, were arrested.”
Amjad, 19, was later revealed to be one of the murderers. He and fellow murderer Hakim Awad told investigators they had received help and support from their relatives after murdering Udi and Ruti Fogel and their children Yoav, 11, Elad, 4, and Hadas, three months old.
The leftist activists apparently did not realize that the Awad family was involved in the murders, and simply believed the family's claims that Israel was treating them badly for no reason.
The Yisrael Sheli (My Israel) Movement said Sunday that the leftist groups had crossed a line. “The time has come to make leftist groups that support murderers illegal. Whoever supports baby killers has no place in a democratic society,” the group said in a statement.
“Leftists groups' encouragement for terrorists, which joins the Palestinian Authority incitement, and author Amos Oz's support for murderer Barghouti, ultimately creates human monsters like the murderers from Awarta.”
MK Michael Ben-Ari (Ichud Leumi) called on Attorney General Yehudah Weinstein to investigate the groups that went to Awarta to provide support to the terrorists' families. “By their acts, they incited to violence,” he wrote.
He added, “Today we see the extreme Left's true face. These are their friends, these are the people they defend!”
MK Tzipi Hotovely (Likud) said the Israelis who expressed solidarity with the Awad family had reached a moral low. “They cannot comfort their brothers in Itamar, but run to show solidarity with the enemy,” she said.