Liberman: Salomon Family Killer Should Have Received Death Sentence

Jerusalem, 19 February, 2018 (TPS) -- Omar al-Abed, the Palestinian terrorist who murdered three members of the Salomon family, should have received the death sentence, and his house should have been demolished,  Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman said Monday at a meeting of his Yisrael Beiteinu faction.

Al-Abed was sentenced on Tursday to four consecutive life sentences for the murder of Yosef, Elad and Chaya Salomon in a stabbing attack in the community of Neve Tzuf last July.

Liberman read out loud the minority opinion that was given during sentencing by a military count calling for the death penalty for the murderer.

“I watched the defendant’s face as he smiled throughout the trial, and continued to do so as the [victims’] family described the massacre that took place,” Judge Dov Gilboa wrote.

“Although it was the minority opinion in the court, this [the call for the death penalty] is the majority opinion among the public,” Liberman said.

The defense minister  called on the Security Cabinet to back an amendment that would would make it easier to impose the death penalty on terrorists.

Liberman added that the state’s decision not to demolish the entire al-Abed family home, but only the floor in which he resided “utterly unreasonable.”

“His family was in on it, they supported him, they knew he was going to carry out an attack and did nothing to warn anyone. That house should be reduced to rubble,” Liberman said.