Facebook page: Kill a convict every hour
More than 15,000 ‘like’ proposal to pressure for teens’ release, as IDF search intensifies in Hebron area
Lazar Berman is The Times of Israel's diplomatic reporter
A Facebook page calling for the execution of a Palestinian convict every hour until three Jewish teens kidnapped Thursday night are returned had garnered more than 15,700 likes as of early Monday morning.
The page, whose cover photo featured the Hebrew slogan “Hotfim? Hotfim!” uses the word for kidnapping — referring to the three boys — which in slang also means to receive a harsh punishment, a reference to the Palestinian prisoners.
The cover photograph shows a picture of the three teens in blue, next to photographs of Palestinians convicted of murdering Israelis in a crosshairs. “Until the teens return — every hour we will shoot a terrorist,” the page reads.
The page was created on Friday, when news surfaced of the kidnapping of Eyal Yifrach, 19, Naftali Frenkel, 16, and Gil-ad Shaar, 16, who were hitchhiking in the West Bank.
Among the updates on the page are profiles and photographs of specific convicts in Israeli jails, with calls for their execution. One post called for Israel to learn from the biblical King David, who is described in Samuel I 30 as tracking down and slaughtering the Amalekites who sacked an Israelite town and imprisoned its women and children.
Though most of the commenters were strongly supportive of the site’s message, there were some who posted comments in Arabic mocking Israel and the captives. “#3 Shalit,” one read. “To Hell,” wrote another under a picture of the three teens.
Security forces further intensified on Sunday night the ongoing search for Yifrach, Shaar and Frenkel.
The army has placed the southern section of the West Bank under curfew and flooded the region with troops.
Thus far, over 100 Hamas and Islamic Jihad officials and activists have been apprehended, including one of Hamas’s founders, Hassan Yousef, and several former government officials.
On Sunday night, IDF troops converged on a house in Hebron and arrested two men wanted in connection with the kidnapping.
Mitch Ginsburg contributed to this report.