Relative of Jewish terror suspect: He’s a gentle, caring soul
Mother-in-law of central suspect in killing of Dawabsha family does not believe he was involved: 'He is interested only in Torah'
The mother-in-law of the central suspect in the fatal firebombing of a Palestinian family’s home said Saturday she did not believe he had anything to do with the incident, telling Channel 2 “his way is undoubtedly not one of violence.”
The woman, who remained anonymous, called the suspect “a very pleasant fellow. A gentle and sensitive young man. He is an exceedingly caring and compassionate soul.”
She stressed that the suspect had never expressed intentions to harm anyone. He was “interested only in studying Torah,” she said, and “this case has nothing to do with him.”
On Thursday authorities said they had recently arrested multiple Jewish terror suspects in the attack on the Dawabsha family home in the Palestinian village of Duma.
The authorities said in a statement that investigators were checking “concrete suspicions” that they were involved in the deadly July attack.
Suspected Jewish extremists torched the Dawabsha home on July 31 while the family slept inside. Ali Dawabsha, the family’s 18-month-old son, died in the attack; his parents, Saad and Riham, succumbed to their injuries in Israeli hospitals in the aftermath of the attack. The sole survivor is 4-year-old Ahmed, who is still being treated in hospital.
Details of the investigation, including the identities of the suspects, remained under a gag order, the police said in a statement.
The arrests took place “over the past few days,” they said without providing additional details.
Israeli officials had been criticized for failing to arrest any suspects in the deadly attack, which drew local and international condemnation, with some alleging a double standard in the state’s handling of cases involving Jewish and Palestinian terror.
Hay Heber, an attorney with the right-wing legal aid group Honenu, who represents some of the arrested suspects, told The Times of Israel that police were grasping at straws and had no real evidence.
“There’s some panic by the investigators that they don’t have anything, so all they can do is to impose difficulties on this group of people in the hope that one of them will ‘break’ and admit to something that he didn’t do.”
Ilan Ben Zion and Judah Ari Gross contributed to this report.