Abu Khdeir: 'We felt our son was murdered all over again'

After Palestinian toddler killed in firebomb attack, family of teenager burned to death last year says government lenience toward Jewish extremists to blame

Over a year since his son was abducted and burned alive by Jewish terrorists in Jerusalem, the father of Mohammed Abu Khdeir said the writing was on the wall for the killing of a Palestinian infant in a West Bank Molotov cocktail attack overnight Thursday-Friday.

“The Israeli government is too lenient and [in fact] strengthens these racist criminals,” said Hussein Abu Khdeir in reference to Jewish extremists who carry out so-called “price tag” attacks against mosques, homes and other Palestinian property mainly in the West Bank.

Abu Khdeir said he and his family have been fearing such deadly incidents since his son was killed last July in a reprisal attack for the abduction and murder of three Israeli teenagers in the West Bank the previous month.

With this attack in the West Bank village of Duma, “we feel that our son was murdered all over again,” Abu Khdeir said in an interview with Ynet.

A relative holds up a photo of a one-and-a-half year old boy, Ali Dawabsha, in the family house torched in a suspected attack by Jewish terrorists in Duma village near the West Bank city of Nablus, Friday, July 31, 2015. The boy died in the fire, his four-year-old brother and parents were badly hurt. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)

He said he would pay a visit on Saturday to the family of the Palestinian toddler Ali Saad Dawabsha, 18 months old, who was buried on Friday. The rest of the family — parents Saad and Riham, and 4-year-old brother Ahmad — were badly burned in the incident and were receiving treatment at two Israeli hospitals.

“I am going to visit them tomorrow, of course. They burned him like they burned Mohammed Abu Khdeir. We have to go to the hospital, to their parents, and to Duma, Nablus, to visit them and embrace them. We went through — and are still going through it. We are burned, they burned our son and they burned us, and until today we are in a difficult state,” said Abu Khdeir.

The home of Muhammad Abu Khdeir in Shuafat, Jerusalem, July 8, 2014 (photo credit: Elhanan Miller/Times of Israel) — The home of Muhammad Abu Khdeir in Shuafat, Jerusalem, July 8, 2014 (Elhanan Miller/Times of Israel)

“The Israeli government doesn’t want peace. Half of the government are settlers, they don’t want peace, they don’t want to do anything. They want both land and peace, and that is impossible. It’s either land or peace. They have to get out of the [Palestinian] territories,” he added.

The attack in Duma began in the early hours of Friday morning. An initial probe indicated that two attackers smashed windows at the home of the Dawabsha and threw petrol bombs inside. Another home, which was empty, was also targeted.

The Hebrew words “Revenge” and “Long live the king messiah” were spray-painted on their walls, alongside a Star of David.

Local residents said four men were seen fleeing the scene in the direction of the nearby settlement of Ma’ale Efraim.

The attack drew widespread condemnation in Israel.

In a phone call to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas Friday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to bring the perpetrators to justice

Those behind the attack “are terror groups, we will arrest them and put them on trial,” Netanyahu told Abbas, according to Palestinian officials who spoke to the Times of Israel.

“There is zero tolerance for terrorism wherever it comes from, whatever side of the fence it comes from, we have to fight it and fight it together,” Netanyahu said in a statement later Friday.