Israel’s political leadership has decided not to return the bodies of Ghassan and Uday Abu al Jamal, the terrorists who carried out the massacre in the synagogue in Jerusalem’s Har Nof neighborhood to their families, Channel 10 reports Wednesday night, as a deterrent against future terror attacks.
This is the first time that the Israeli government has withheld bodies of the terrorists as a deterrent against future attacks. Terrorists normally are given funerals with their families in attendance, albeit usually with diminished fanfare and under tight security.
The attorney for the families of the terrorists asked during the debate held in the court to transfer the bodies of the terrorists to families so they can bury them. The State Attorney’s Office allegedly objected, prompting the families to vow to take an appeal to the Jerusalem District Court.
A police representative who attended the hearing told Channel 10 that the State may arrange to bury the bodies in the end – but outside of Jerusalem, away from their families. Families may be banned from holding funeral services.
Meanwhile, Jordanian MPs stood a minute silence in memory of the two terrorists who carried out the massacre on Wednesday night; according to Jordanian media, the Parliament opened today’s session by holding the moment of silence, then calling the terrorists shahids, or martyrs.
Five people were killed in the attack Tuesday morning, when Ghassan and Uday stormed the Kehilat Yaakov synagogue armed with a gun and meat cleavers during morning prayers.
Four worshipers were murdered as they prayed before the terrorists were shot dead in an exchange of fire with police. One policeman, Zidan Seif, was critically wounded and died of his injuries later Tuesday night.
The two terrorists held Israeli residency and the privileges entailed by it, and reportedly one of them worked in a grocery store next to the synagogue they attacked.
The Abu Jamal family responded to the attack by celebrating and passing out candy, with a cousin of the terrorists saying “we responded with shouts of joy when we received the news about their deaths.”
He called the attack “a normal thing that can be expected from every man who has courage and a feeling of belonging to his people and to Islam.”
