Mother of suspected killer of Israeli teens: He's an angel

Mom of Marwan Kawasme, killed by the IDF last month, says Allah must love her son because he was honored with martyrdom

By Stuart Winer

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and ToI Staff 6 October 2014, 11:54 pm

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The mother of a Palestinian who was suspected of killing three Israeli teenagers in the back of a car in June, and was killed in a shoot-out with the Israel Defense Forces in September, praised her son and said he was a “hero among heroes.”

Marwan Kawasme and Amer Abu Aysha were both killed in a September 23 shoot-out during an Israeli raid on the Hebron hideout where they were holed up.

In an interview later that day with the official Palestinian television station, Kawasme’s mother spoke of her pride in her son. An excerpt from the video with English-language subtitles was posted to the Internet on Monday by Israeli NGO Palestinian Media Watch.

In the clip, a Palestinian Authority TV reporter sets the scene by describing the early-morning assault on the suspects’ location.

“At 2 a.m., according to Zionist hatred time, the residential quarter in Hebron awoke to the sound of shots fired by the occupation directly at the two Martyrs, Amer Abu Aysha and Marwan Al-Kawasme…,” he said.

Kawasme’s mother is then seen at her son’s funeral, speaking to reporters.

“[My son] Marwan is an angel,” she said. “He was loved all his life. Everyone loves him. He is noble, pure and modest — an angel; the hero among heroes and a leader. If Allah hadn’t loved him, He wouldn’t have honored him with martyrdom.”

Marwan Kawasme (left) and Amer Abu Aysha (right), suspected by Israel of kidnapping and killing three Israeli teens. (photo credit: Courtesy)

The operation to capture Kawasme and Abu Aysha was carried out at around 3 a.m. by the Shin Bet along with IDF soldiers and troops from the Yamam police anti-terror unit, after the security establishment received information on the whereabouts of the two suspects from Hamas members who had been arrested earlier, a Shin Bet statement said at the time.

The forces descended on the house where the suspects were believed to be hiding and began firing heavily. Both were killed after refusing to surrender, and Hamas confirmed the deaths.

The two, both of whom belonged to families with deep ties to Hamas, were responsible for the abduction and killing of Naftali Fraenkel, 16; Gil-ad Shaar, 16; and Eyal Yifrach, 19, on June 12, according to Israel. The three yeshiva students were nabbed while waiting at a West Bank bus stop and hitchhiking post.

Eyal Yifrach, 19, Gil-ad Shaar, 16, and Naftali Fraenkel, 16, the three Israeli teenagers who were seized on June 12 and whose bodies were found on June 30. (photo credit: IDF/AP)

One of the teens managed to make a furtive call to police for help and, in a recording of the call, gunshots could be heard and the sound of cheering from the kidnappers before the connection was abruptly ended.

Their abduction set off a search operation in the West Bank as well as a crackdown on the Hamas organization, which Israel accused of being behind the attack. The bodies of the three teens were found in a shallow grave near Hebron on June 30.

The abduction and killing sparked a summer of rising tensions that climaxed with Operation Protective Edge, the 50-day war between Israel and Hamas in and around the Gaza Strip.