An Arab medical student from the Technion in Haifa published a clarification on Wednesday, after he provoked outrage over a celebratory status on Facebook related to the murder of the three Israeli teenagers by terrorists.
The student wrote “3 goals for Palestine without taking part in the World Cup,” along with the photos of the three murdered youths.
While it was originally reported that the student, Murad Abu al-Hija, posted the status the day the three teens’ bodies were found, he said in his clarification that the status was written the day after the kidnapping.
"The media reported that after the bodies of the three murdered boys were found, I posted my Facebook status which allegedly mocked the incident and uploaded a picture of the murdered boys," he said, according to Israel Hayom.
"This is a crude and manipulative distortion, which caused a wave of criticism and threats towards me. This is the truth: I posted the status the day after the kidnapping, on June 13, and it did not include the pictures of the boys. It was a kind of black humor, a bad joke, so I deleted the status a few hours later on my own initiative,” said al-Hija.
"I hurt over the murders of the three boys just as much as I hurt over the murder of Palestinians, including children and youths who were killed in Operation Brother’s Keeper,” he continued. “It is unfortunate that some of my fellow students and officials at the Technion were pulled into impassioned reactions. It is clear that some of the harsh responses and the violence come from racism and prejudice.”