A year after the shocking massacre in Neveh Tzuf-Halamish, in the southwestern Samarian hills north of Ramallah, Kan, Israel’s Public Broadcasting Corporation, revealed on Wednesday night the terrorist’s testimony of how he planned the attack and why he chose the Salomon family.
Omar el-Abed, an Arab youth from nearby Kobar, on Friday night, July 21, 2017, armed with a knife, jumped over the security fence at Neveh Tzuf-Halamish, and entered a house with an open door some 300 feet from the fence, surprising members of the Salomon family who were preparing for a Shalom Zachar celebration for the birth of a grandson.
He stabbed to death the 70-year-old grandfather, Yossi, his 46-year-old daughter Chaya, and 36-year-old Elad, who were all pronounced dead at the scene. The 68-year-old grandmother, Tova, was stabbed and injured seriously as well before escaping upstairs. Elad’s wife and three children who were downstairs escaped upstairs and barricaded themselves in a room with two infants. An Israeli soldier who was home on leave responded, shooting the murderer through a window.
“I tried to encourage people who carry out attacks on Facebook, but there was no response so I decided to carry out an attack myself,” the same murderer later testified. “I thought of stabbing in Jerusalem but I am refused entry there on security grounds. I thought of killing soldiers at a checkpoint, but I told myself that the soldiers would kill me.”
Regarding the choice to enter the Salomon family home, the terrorist said in his testimony: “I chose to enter Halamish because of the trees on the fence. I looked for a knife and could not find one. I went to my father and told him that the neighbors wanted a knife to slaughter a lamb. I took a meat cutter and hid it behind the refrigerator.”
Later that night, he testified, “I found myself in a cemetery and that’s how I knew I was inside the settlement. I saw two houses; from one of them I heard voices and from the other I heard laughter. So I decided to get into the one that had laughter.”