Remand for Relatives of Barkan Murderer Extended

A military court has extended the remands of both the mother and brother of Ashraf Nalaweh, the murderer of Ziv Hajabi, Hy”d, and Kim Levengard Yechezkel, Hy”d. The two have been in custody for about a month, arrested shortly after Nalaweh murdered the Israelis in a terror attack in the Barkan industrial zone near Ariel in October. The brother of Nalaweh will be held until the end of proceedings against him, the court ruled, while the mother’s remand has been extended for two months. Both are accused of acting as accessories both before and after the murders, including helping the terrorist elude authorities.

Honenu attorney Chaim Bleicher, who is representing the victims’ families, expressed satisfaction over the decision. “We will continue to work with the families of the victims during the trial and ensuring that justice is done, and to ensure that we do not make any concessions to terror,” he said.

There has been an intensive search for Nalaweh over the past several weeks, but as yet security forces have been unable to find him. Searches have concentrated on the Tul Karem area, as well as in the Shechem area, where Nalaweh was thought to have fled to, as he has relatives there. He is considered armed and dangerous, but officials believe it is only a matter of time. “He can’t hide out forever, and when he surfaces we will be there to capture him,” security officials told Hadashot News. “We are keeping the pressure on to make sure he runs out of options and is unable to organize a long-term effort to remain underground.”

IDF soldiers overnight Wednesday seized weapons that were to be used in terror attacks. Soldiers, working with police, discovered weapons in Arab villages in the Gush Etzion area. In a statement, the army said that such weapons were used in terror attacks as well as for criminal activity, and that security forces were determined to seize all weapons that were being held illegally by all people, in order to better protect all Israelis and residents of Palestinian Authority-controlled areas, who are also under threat by terrorists and criminals.

Overnight Wednesday, security officials said they arrested 20 wanted security suspects in other areas in Yehudah and Shomron. The suspects were wanted for participating in rioting and throwing stones and firebombs that endangered Israeli civilians and IDF soldiers. Several of the suspects were also charged with belonging to Hamas. All were being questioned on their activities by security forces.