Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) and The Jewish Federation of Greater Washington condemn the ruthless murder of 16-year-old Palestinian

Post date: Jul 8, 2014 9:42:54 PM

Washington, DC – The Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) and The Jewish Federation of Greater Washington condemn the ruthless murder of 16-year-old Palestinian, Mohammed Abu Khdeir and are horrified by the atrocious nature of this crime. We applaud the Israeli Police for the swift apprehension of those allegedly responsible, and have full confidence the Israeli justice system will ensure that the perpetrators of this crime will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

Earlier today, Prime Minister Netanyahu spoke with Hussein Abu Khdeir, the father of Muhammad Abu Khdeir, and conveyed his condolences: "I would like to express my outrage and that of the citizens of Israel over the reprehensible murder of your son. We acted immediately to apprehend the murderers. We will bring them to trial and they will be dealt with to the fullest extent of the law. We denounce all brutal behavior; the murder of your son is abhorrent and cannot be countenanced by any human being."

We embrace the strong words of Yishai Fraenkel, the uncle of Naftali Fraenkel, z”l, who recently told the press that “the life of an Arab is equally precious to that of a Jew. Blood is blood, and murder is murder, whether that murder is Jewish or Arab.”

We also express concern over the beating of American citizen, Tariq Abu Khdeir, 15 year old cousin of Mohammed Abu Khdeir and a high school sophomore visiting Israel from Tampa, FL. We support the U.S. State Department’s request for a speedy, transparent and credible investigation with full accountability assigned for any excessive use of force.

We echo the voices of reason across the political spectrum in Israel and globally calling for restraint. As inspiringly written by Israeli President Peres and President-elect Rivlin: “We are allowed to argue. We even have to argue. We, all of us, have all the ways to express our pain, our opinion and our world view. But incitement is not the way. Collective accusation is not a solution... This is the time to find what unites us and not what divides us” (for the full op-ed please see the article “It's in our hands to put an end to bloodshed” on Ynet).

JCRC