IDF Arrests Arab ‘Star’ Whose Song Praised Chalamish Murderer

IDF soldiers overnight Wednesday arrested an Arab singing “star” from the Shomron village of Beit Rima who had in recent days become well known for his composition praising Omar al-Abd al-Jalil, the terrorist murderer who killed three members of the Salomon family, Hy”d, a month ago in their home in the Binyamin town of Chalamish. The song has been getting a great deal of air time on Arab radio stations in Palestinian Authority-controlled areas of Yehudah and Shomron, including on legal stations for which the PA was allocated bandwidth.

Al-Jalil was indicted for the terror attack last week.

A military court on Monday sentenced members of the terrorist’s family to prison terms. The family members were convicted of being accessories to the terror attack, having foreknowledge of it, and assisting the terrorist to carry it out. Two brothers and an uncle of al-Jalil were sentenced to eight months in prison, while his father was sentenced to two months. Al-Jalil’s mother, who was convicted for incitement, got a one-month prison term and a fine.

In a statement, the IDF said that “in recent days, a song has been distributed that praises a terror attack. As part of the IDF’s campaign against incitement, soldiers, in cooperation with Israel Police and Border Guards, arrested the singer and composer of this work, and those who were involved in distribution. In addition, recording equipment used to produce this song was confiscated.”