The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) said it was ‘’outraged and horrified’’ by the apparent despicable revenge killing of 16-year-old Palestinian Mohammed Abu Khdeir and called for a vigorous prosecution of those responsible.
ADL’s reaction came after Israeli police arrested Sunday six Jewish extremist suspects in connection with the crime.
Mohammed Abu Khdeir was kidnapped from his Shuafat neighborhood in Jerusalem and his beaten and mutilated body was found in the Jerusalem Forest hours later. Reports indicate he was burned alive.
Police say the initial investigation has determined the Palestinian youth was murdered by Israeli Jewish extremists in an act of revenge for the abduction and murder of three Israeli teens by Hamas terrorists, who were buried on July 1 after their bodies were recovered in the West Bank.
‘’We are outraged and horrified that this heinous attack is believed to have been carried out by Israeli Jewish extremists, who sought out and brutally murdered an innocent Palestinian teen,’’ said Abraham H.Foxman, ADL’s National Director.
‘’Unbridled extremist hatred was behind the kidnapping and murder of Naftali Fraenkel, Gilad Shaar and Eyal Yifrach, who are mourned around the world. We cannot shirk from the recognition that unbridled, extremist hatred may have led to the kidnapping and murder of Mohammed Abu Khdeir as well. The Israeli authorities must fully investigate this crime and prosecute all those responsible for this murder to the fullest extent of the law,’’ he added.
He said ‘’only a full investigation and vigorous criminal prosecution will ensure justice for Mohammed Abu Khdeir, while sending a message to anyone else who might consider such an act that extremism, vigilantism and revenge killings will not be tolerated in Israeli society and are anathema to Jewish values.’’