The official Hamas poster
Friday, May 3, 2024, 16:18 Today, Jerusalem Magistrates Court Judge Eliad Weinshall refused the request by the police to extend the remand of the detainee suspected of killing a Hamas activist by ten days and extended it by only two days. The detainee is a married Beit El resident, a father of three who does not have a criminal record. Until recently, he served as a combat soldier in the reserves. Honenu has engaged the services of Attorneys Ariel Atari and Asaf Gonen to represent the detainee.
Yesterday (Thursday) the detainee arrived at the GSS offices in Petah Tikva for a meeting to which he had been summoned. For many hours he was asked to cooperate with the Jewish Department of the GSS and give information and background information about incidents in and residents of Yehuda and Shomron. He refused. Late in the evening, he was informed that he was being detained on suspicion of involvement with a murder.
At today’s hearing, it was revealed that the deceased was a Hamas activist, Omar Ahmed Abed Alani Hamed, from the Arab village of Beitin in the Binyamin region. After his death, Hamas identified him as one of their members and issued an official poster announcing the death of a “combat martyr” (shahid mujahid). At his funeral, which was conducted as a Hamas funeral, there were many calls of incitement, including “We are the men of Mohammed Deif.”
The court postponed the hearing for several hours because the GSS and the police refused to bring the detainee to the hearing as is customary, or to allow him to meet with an attorney at the courthouse. Attorney Atari was forced to drive to the GSS offices in Petah Tikva to meet with the detainee. Several hours later, he returned to the court and the hearing took place in the absence of the detainee, who watched it in real-time via video conference.
After the hearing, Attorney Atari stated, “At the close of the hearing, it was more obvious to us than ever that there is no connection between the defendant and the crime of murder with which he is charged. The Israel Police asked to extend the remand by 10 days. However, the court extended it by only two days, until Monday morning.
“It was not clear that there was any evidence at all that the Hamas activist had been killed, or if he had been killed, under what circumstances. Because the circumstances of the death are not clear, it is difficult to accept that the remand has been extended over the charge of murder. Nonetheless, I expect that in the coming days my client will be released from remand.”
Video clip of the terrorist’s funeral, participants are calling out incitement, including “We are men of the men of Mohammed Deif”; Video credit: Arab social media