Arutz Sheva reported, “The Military Court in Shomron (Samaria) convicted Yazed Hassan Mohammed Awad on Sunday of assisting the murderers of five members of the Fogel family in Itamar on March 11, 2011. According to the charge sheet against him, Awad gave shelter to some of the people involved in the multiple murders and attempted to obstruct justice by briefing the suspects regarding Shin Bet interrogation techniques. In addition, he held two M-16 weapons that were stolen in the course of the murderous attack.” Although he denied the charges, he was unanimously convicted by the court.

Udi Fogel, 36, Ruth Fogel, 35, and their children Yoav, 11, Elad, 4, and three-month-old Hadas were all murdered by Palestinian terrorists from Fatah who broke into their home in the middle of the night during Shabbat almost two years ago. As Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu stated, “It was a cold-blooded massacre of innocent children and parents.” The Jerusalem Post reported that in September 2011, Hakim Awad was sentenced to five life sentences for slaughtering the Fogel family, while in January 2012; Amjad Awad was sentenced to five life sentences plus seven years for massacring the Fogel family.

The Palestinian Authority’s incitement is believed to be partially responsible for the Itamar massacre. On the day before the Fogel massacre took place, Sabri Saidam, adviser to Abbas and under-secretary of the Fatah Revolutionary Council, told Palestinian Arabs in a speech that “the weapons must be turned towards the main enemy [Israel] and that internal differences of opinion must be set aside.” Saidam also called for the naming of another public square in honor of Dalal Mughrabi, the female terrorist who led the 1978 Coastal Road massacre that left dozens of Israelis dead, including 13 children and voiced his dissatisfaction that the stipends given to families of terrorists is not higher.

Following the Fogel massacre, PA TV interviewed relatives of Hakim Awad, who glorified what the Fogel murderers did. The mother of Hakim Awad is quoted as stating, “My greetings to dear Hakim, the apple of my eye, who carried out the operation in Itamar, sentenced to 5 life sentences.” Hakim Awad’s aunt reportedly referred to him as a “hero” and a “legend.” Yet even worse, the PA TV host also sent greetings to the Itamar murderers. The video can be viewed here!

Arutz Sheva reported that “Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin lit Hanukkah candles with the surviving members of the Fogel family last week, at the Itamar yeshiva hall built in memory of the victims.” Three Fogel children, Tamar, Roi and Yisha, survived the Itamar terrorist attack. Tamar was not at home at the time of the massacre, while the terrorists didn’t notice the other two children who were sleeping. Rivlin said, “Eight candles were alight in the Fogel family menorah; we have remained with three burning candles and the light of the five candles that were putout on that terrible Friday night.”

Last Hanukkah, Itamar’s Rabbi Natan Hai proclaimed, “The terrorists wanted to frighten and silence us but we will go on building and lighting a great light in the hills of the Shomron. Our beloved righteous ones, the Fogel Family, were murdered, but their light will go on and their way shall overcome.”

By Rachel Avraham

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