Two Arab-Israeli terrorists who carried out a deadly terrorist attack in Hadera in late March were buried overnight in their hometown of Umm al-Fahm after Israel agreed to the return of their bodies.
Family members accepted police demands that they be buried in the early hours of Monday morning and that attendance at each funeral be limited to no more than 50 people.
They also agreed there would be no calls or banners and no processions, news site Walla reported. However, according to news site Ynet, slogans on martyrdom were sporadically chanted.
Police had previously raised concerns that the funerals could attract thousands and become staging areas for terror.
In early April, police reportedly asked Defense Secretary Benny Gantz not to return the bodies of five terrorists who had recently carried out attacks in Beersheba, Hadera, Bnei Brak and Jerusalem to their families for burial.
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Unknown defense officials, believed to be police, told Ynet there were fears the funerals could be used to foment more attacks. According to the report, however, both the Shin Bet security agency and the IDF Gantz said they believed the bodies should be returned, particularly those of Beersheba and Hadera’s attackers, who were Israeli citizens.
Israeli security forces near a car believed to have been used by two terrorists who carried out a deadly attack in Hadera on March 27, 2022 (GIL COHEN-MAGEN / AFP)
Police are particularly concerned about the return of the bodies of Hadera terrorists, recalling the thousands who attended the funerals of two Umm al-Fahm residents who carried out a deadly shooting attack in Jerusalem’s Old City in 2017, in which two police officers were killed were killed.
On March 27, Ayman and Ibrahim Ighbariah, cousins from the northern Arab town, shot dead border policemen Yazan Falah and Shirel Aboukrat before they were killed by police during the Islamic State-inspired attack.
It was the first attack in Israel claimed by Islamic State since 2017.
Israel Police said the two arrived at the scene with 1,100 bullets along with at least three handguns and six knives.
Ibrahim, 31, was arrested by Turkish police in 2016 after trying to join the Islamic State in Syria. He was later arrested by Israeli security forces and was serving a year and a half in prison for membership in a terrorist group.
Yazan Falah and Shirel Aboukrat, two border police officers killed in a terrorist attack in Hadera, are seen at their base near the West Bank settlement of Bet El hours before they were killed on March 27, 2022. (Israeli Police)
A video circulating on social media is said to show the two Ighbariahs embracing in front of an Islamic State flag before the attack.
Whether holding the bodies of attackers is an effective policy is a matter of debate within the security apparatus.
Some believe it gives Israel added leverage in negotiations with terrorist groups, primarily Hamas, and acts as a deterrent to attack. Others see it as ineffective and based on shaky legal foundations.
In 2019, the Supreme Court ruled that the IDF may hold the bodies of suspected terrorists for purposes of ensuring national security, such as using the remains of Hamas terrorists as bargaining chips in an eventual exchange with the Gaza-based terrorist group.
A screenshot of an undated video showing the two terrorists who killed four Israelis in Hadera on March 27, 2022 pledge allegiance to the terrorist group Islamic State (Screen Grab)
The landmark decision overturned an earlier judgment in which the High Court had struck down the practice on formal grounds.
Far-right politicians condemned the decision to release the terrorists’ bodies for burial and attacked the government.
“Instead of imposing sanctions on terrorist families to create deterrence and fight terrorism, [Prime Minister Naftali] Bennett and [Foreign Minister Yair] Lapid are fighting for the integrity of the coalition lest the government fall,” said Avi Maoz, leader of religious Zionism, leader of the party’s ultra-conservative Noam faction.
“Funerals for terrorists in Umm al-Fahm – why do they deserve it? Why did we deserve it? The government has repeatedly insisted on turning the other cheek to terrorism,” Religious Zionism MK Orit Strock tweeted, tagging a number of right-wing government officials.
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