Arab family ordered to remove poster of slain son

The Jerusalem Municipality ordered the family of slain Arab teenager Muhammed Abu Khdeir to take down a mourning banner of their son — or face paying a fine of thousands of shekels a day.

According to a Sunday report from Channel 2 News, the municipality contacted Hussein Abu Khdeir, father of the victim, last week and warned him that if the large poster of his son stays up on a building near the family home in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Shuafat, he will be fined NIS 3,000 ($790) for every day that it remains in place.

The poster showed the 16-year-old Muhammed Abu Khdeir and included text declaring that the neighborhood was mourning his death. It had been hanging for the past four months, since his killing at the hands of three Jewish terrorists who kidnapped the teenager, beat him unconscious and then burned him to death.

The Jerusalem Municipality explained that the sign was illegal and in violation of city codes, but that it had waited four months to act, out of sympathy for the bereaved family.

“After speaking with the family, it was agreed last week that the sign will come down,” the municipality said, and noted that the display of large signs, posters or banners require a municipal permit.

The family quickly removed the multi-story poster.

Said Abu Khdeir, a family member, said the city’s demand came too soon after the killing, since the trial of the suspects, who have confessed to the killing, was not yet over. The demand would only increase tensions in the neighborhood that has been the scene of continuous riots since the murder.

“They still haven’t punished the murderers, the trial is still going on — and this is what bothers them,” Said Abu Khdeir told Channel 2. “This demand will not calm things down here, but will only add fuel to the fire. It causes extremism and tension between us and the Jews.”

In July, the Jerusalem District Court indicted three suspects for the killing: Yosef Haim Ben-David, a 29-year-old resident of the Adam settlement in the West Bank; and two 16-year-olds — one from Jerusalem, the other from Beit Shemesh. According to the indictment, the adult and one of the minors have a history of mental illness and are presently on medication.

During questioning, the suspects said that Abu Khdeir was killed in retaliation for the kidnapping and killing of yeshiva students Naftali Fraenkel, Gil-ad Sha’ar and Eyal Yifrach by Hamas-linked Palestinian terrorists in the West Bank in June. The incidents, among other factors, sparked a 50-day war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas as well as riots in Jerusalem that have steadily increased in ferocity over the summer and autumn.