PA TV aired encrypted message from soldier’s alleged killer
Months before Tomer Hazan’s death, the prime suspect in his killing apparently sent an enigmatic message to his brother, jailed for terrorist activities
Four months before he allegedly killed IDF soldier Tomer Hazan in September, Nidal Amar reportedly transmitted a cryptic message via an official Palestinian Authority TV station to his brother, jailed for terrorist activities, informing him that a plan to kidnap a soldier and ransom the body for his release would soon come to fruition.
According to a translation by the watchdog group Palestinian Media Watch, on May 16, the presenters of the Palestinian TV show “For You” read the following statement during a segment dedicated to messages for security prisoners held in Israel:
Before we end, we have greetings for Nour Al-Din Amar from his brother Abu Wasim [Nidal Amar] and from the family. They say to you that they are well, and that your mother is healthy again. They tell you that “the calf will soon be in the cage, and we’ll celebrate the freedom of all prisoners.”
“For You” is the most frequently watched show among Palestinian security prisoners in Israeli jails, according to Walla.
In September, four months later, Amar allegedly lured the 20-year-old IAF sergeant, his co-worker at a Bat Yam restaurant, into a car and drove to a field south of the West Bank city of Qalqilya. There, Amar allegedly killed Hazan and stuffed his body in a well.
On the following day Israeli security forces arrested Amar, who proceeded to lead them to where the body was hidden.
During his interrogation, Amar confessed that he had planned to ransom the body in exchange for the release of his brother, a former Fatah operative held in Israel since 2003.
The Shin Bet said Amar’s brother was a member of the Fatah Tanzim terror group, who has been serving time in an Israeli jail since 2003 for his role in several terror attacks, including planning a suicide bombing by a female bomber that was thwarted.
