Ian Deith, Jerusalem
Israeli soldiers drive on an armored personnel carrier near the Israel and Gaza Strip border
Three Israeli suspects in the vigilante-style killing of a Palestinian teenager who was abducted and burned to death last week confessed to the crime yesterday and were re-enacting the incident for authorities, an official said, as the country’s leaders raced to contain a public uproar over the slaying.
The confessions came as tensions continued to rise along Israel’s volatile front with the Gaza Strip. Israeli airstrikes, launched in response to persistent rocket fire, killed at least eight Palestinian militants. The Hamas militant group vowed revenge, saying “the enemy will pay a tremendous price.”
The region has been on edge for weeks since three Israeli teenagers were kidnapped and killed in the West Bank. Last week, hours after the Israeli teens were buried, 16-year-old Mohammed Abu Khdeir was abducted from outside his home in east Jerusalem, and his charred remains were found shortly afterwards in a Jerusalem forest. His death triggered days of violent protests in Arab areas of Jerusalem and northern Israel.
The Jewish suspects have not been identified, and they remained in custody yesterday. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the continuing investigation.
Palestinians say that Abu Khdeir’s death was a revenge killing in response to the abductions and killings of the three Israeli teens. Abu Khdeir was abducted near his home in east Jerusalem shortly after the three were buried, and his charred remains were later found in a Jerusalem forest.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has condemned Abu Khdeir’s death and tried to calm the public. His office said he called Abu Khdeir’s father, Hussein, to express his condolences.
“I would like to express my outrage and that of the citizens of Israel over the reprehensible murder of your son,” a statement quoted Netanyahu as saying.
“We acted immediately to apprehend the murderers. We will bring them to trial and they will be dealt with to the fullest extent of the law. We denounce all brutal behavior, the murder of your son is abhorrent and cannot be countenanced by any human being,” he said.
Hussein Abu Khdeir, father of the slain boy, said he was not certain he spoke to Netanyahu.
“Maybe he called, I don’t know,” he said. “Tons of people called me this morning to apologize for what happened to my son. Some of them were crying. But I don’t know if Netanyahu was one of them,” he said.
The discovery Sunday that a group of Jewish males, some of them minors, were suspected in the grisly death of Abu Khdeir, who was still alive when he was set on fire, set off nationwide anguish in Israel and raised questions about whether the charged atmosphere in the country had contributed to the killing.
“Shame. That is the word,” wrote Sima Kadmon, a commentator in the mass daily Yediot Ahronot. “For the murder of Mohammed, there is shame. Immense shame and disgrace over the fact that such a thing happened among us, we who are so certain that it could not happen among us, that only Arabs can be so cruel.”
Israel’s president, Nobel peace laureate Shimon Peres, and the man who is to succeed him later this month, Reuven Rivlin, co-authored a front-page article in the same newspaper.
“In the state of Israel, there is no difference between blood and blood,” the two men wrote. “The choice is in our hands: To give in to the destructive worldview posed to us by the racists and the extremists, or to fight it unconditionally; to give in to wild and vicious Muslim or Jewish terrorists — or to put an end to it by all means possible.” AP
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