TEL AVIV – Israeli security forces arrested a Palestinian wedding singer on Wednesday morning after he sang a song praising the terrorist who murdered three members of the same family at their Shabbat table in the Halamish settlement last month.
Mohammed al-Barghouti and two other members of his band were arrested after a video of the band performing the song made the rounds on social media. In it, Barghouti is heard glorifying Omar al-Abed for breaking into the home of the Salomon family while they were waiting for guests to celebrate the birth of a new grandson and stabbing and killing Yosef Salomon and his two children Chaya and Elad.
“I heard the sound of the machine gun in the Arab village Kobar. … It’s Omar who crossed the woods and carried out the operation,” the lyrics say, referring to Abed’s hometown.
“Hey you, who asks about real men, you will find them in Kobar. … Omar al-Abed is an earthquake who took revenge on behalf of Al Aqsa. … He came from above the mountains carrying a knife on his side, and when he announced the clash, he made the Zionists lie on the ground. … Even if they detain my mother and my father, and demolish our home, we will never wear clothes of disgrace,” the song continues, according to a translation posted by the Palestinian news agency Ma’an.
Throngs of Palestinian men celebrating the wedding can be seen dancing to the song.
After the attack, al-Abed confessed to investigators that he had murdered the Jews in order to “avenge Al Aqsa.” At the time, Israel had installed – and later dismantled – metal detectors at the Temple Mount compound, which includes the Al Aqsa Mosque, following a terror attack there that saw two Israeli police officers killed.
A military court convicted five members of al-Abed’s family of failing to prevent the Halamish attack, the army said Sunday.
According to the Judea Regional Court, the family members “knew of [al-Abed’s] intention to carry out the attack and did not work to inform the security services as needed to prevent it.”
Shortly after the attack, the terrorist’s mother, Ibtisam, was arrested for “aggravated incitement” after expressing joy and pride over her son’s actions in a video that went viral on Arab social media. The video also showed her handing out celebratory sweets to guests at her home. She was sentenced to a month in prison. Omar’s father, Abed Aljaleel, said the “occupation” was to blame for his son’s actions. As Breitbart Jerusalem reported at the time, Palestinians from all over the world praised the attack.
A military court indicted al-Abed for the murder of Yosef, Elad and Chaya Salomon and the attempted murders of Yosef’s wife Tova and daughter-in-law Michal, along with her five children.