Far-right MK: Jewish terrorist who killed Palestinian family is a ‘holy, righteous man’

A lawmaker from the far-right Jewish Power party sparked controversy in Israel on Tuesday after she called a Jewish terrorist convicted of murdering a Palestinian family “innocent” and a “righteous man.” 

The terrorist, Amiram Ben Uliel, was sentenced to three life sentences in prison in 2020 after he was found guilty of firebombing a Palestinian family’s home in the West Bank village of Duma.

Ben Uliel threw a firebomb in the family’s home while they were sleeping, instantly killing 18-month-old boy, Ali. His parents, Sa’ad and Raham Dawabsheh died in the hospital weeks later. Their five-year-old son Ahmed was burned severely, but survived the terror attack.

“I know he is innocent. I know Amiram is innocent… (he) is a holy, righteous man, really,” Limor Son Har-Melech said, adding that she had visited him in prison.

Har-Melech was speaking at a fundraising campaign event for the convicted terrorist, which so far has raised almost 500,000 NIS (£ 105,000), according to Channel 12.

The Jewish Power party lawmaker is part of a campaign with 13 other coalition lawmakers and ministers, working to improve Ben Uliel’s prison conditions.

The 14 lawmakers sent a letter to Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar saying:

“There is no justification to treat him with outrageous inequality, as they do not treat security prisoners serving life sentences for brutal acts of murder that way. His mental condition has recently deteriorated due to the continued isolation and there is great concern about his mental and physical health.”

Israel’s Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu went a step further, sowing doubt about Israel’s judicial system.

“I don’t know if he is the murderer or not because I have no trust in the current Israeli legal system… The whole investigation was tainted… Israel’s legal system is defiled by politicisation,” he told Israeli news site Ynet.