page_title: Kidnapping and murder of Mohammed Abu Khdeir
section_title: Family reactions, riots and funeral
hierarchical_section_title: Kidnapping and murder of Mohammed Abu Khdeir / Family reactions, riots and funeral
caption_attribution_description: English: Mourning tent of Muhamed Abu Khdeir, Jerusalem 2014עברית: אוהל האבלים למוחמד אבו ח'דיר
context_page_description: The kidnapping and murder of Mohammed Abu Khdeir occurred early on the morning of 2 July 2014. Khdeir, a 16-year-old Palestinian, was forced into a car by Israeli citizens on an East Jerusalem street. His family immediately reported the fact to Israeli Police who located his charred body a few hours later at Givat Shaul in the Jerusalem Forest. Preliminary results from the autopsy suggested that he was beaten and burnt while still alive. The murder suspects explained the attack as a response to the abduction and murder of three Israeli teens on 12 June. The murders contributed to a breakout of hostilities in the 2014 Israel–Gaza conflict.
  On Sunday, 6 July, police took into custody six Jewish suspects for interrogation, stating that they believed the murder was most likely carried out by 'terrorists' as revenge. One confessed quickly, incriminating three others, some of them minors, and they were put on remand for 8 days. Within a day, three had confessed and reenacted the murder at the scene of the crime. Three other suspects were released as unconnected with the crime, though they heard about it from the alleged murderers.
context_section_description: Abu Khdeir was given a martyr's funeral in Jerusalem. His family requested that only Palestinian flags be waved near his coffin, though some flew the banner of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. The boy's father blamed "fascist murderers", and called on the Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to deal with the culprits in the same way as he is handling the murderers of Jewish teenagers, by destroying their homes, as had been done in the previous case with the Palestinian suspects. He later reiterated his call to demolish the homes of the three suspects, and added they should be burned to death. He noticed Israel's double standards regarding treatment of Jewish terrorists by remarking, "A month has passed since the murder, and the murderers' homes have still not been destroyed". Abu Khdeir's uncle blamed the crime on "[e]veryone in the government... from [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu down" for fanning racial hostility against Palestinians. The teen's father compared the burning to death of his son to what Jews suffered at German hands in the Holocaust, and attributed the incident to the anti-Arab atmosphere in Israel after three Israeli youths had been murdered, which in his view functioned like a 'green light' for assaulting Arabs.
  After the arrest of the six suspects, Abu Khdeir's mother, Suha, manifested pessimism that they would be duly punished, saying, "I don't have any peace in my heart, even if they captured who they say killed my son. They're only going to ask them questions and then release them. What's the point?"
  Prime Minister Netanyahu sent his condolences to the victim's family, saying: "There is no place for such murders in our society." The condolences were rejected by the family, who said, "[W]e refuse to accept the condolences of someone who agrees on the murder of our people in Jerusalem, the West Bank, and Gaza". Despite concern from family members that visits from Israeli Jews could serve as a public relations stunt for Israel, the family agreed to receive visits from them at its mourning tent, largely to conform to hospitality diktats in Arab culture. Abu Khdeir warned, however, that the family would not allow right-wing Israelis in.
  The family turned away a visit by then Israeli President Shimon Peres. Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch announced he was going to pay a visit at the Abu Khdeir family home, but the visit was reportedly canceled due to scheduling constraints. Israel's Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi, David Lau, also had a planned visit canceled, whether on security grounds or because the family refused to see him is unclear. Among the Israeli officials who did visit the mourning tent, are MK Shelly Yachimovich (Labor), MK Michal Rozin, and Environmental Protection Minister Amir Peretz. Peretz became the target of abuse on his Facebook page from right-wing Israelis opposed to the visit; they made death threats against him and his family, and expressed support for Khdeir's murderers. The Abu Khdeir family also spoke with Justice Minister Tzipi Livni. As part of an initiative led by an Israeli NGO combating hate crime, the Tag Meir organization organized for chartered buses from Tel Aviv and Jerusalem for a large Israeli contingent wishing to pay respects to the Abu Khdeir family, which welcomed them in the mourners' tent. Anti-racist Israeli activists from Jerusalem also came to express their condolences.
  Abu Khdeir's murder sparked off fierce riots for several days, threatening to spilling over to broader unrest. In the Shu'fat area and East Jerusalem, a half-mile section of a major thoroughfare and the Jerusalem Light Rail passing through it were severely damaged. A significant faction in the wave of riots was the suspicion that Israeli extremists were behind a revenge killing of Abu-Khdeir. In a different area, near the West Bank Israeli settlement of Ma'ale Adumim stones and Molotov cocktails were thrown and rolled burning tires at security forces, according to Israeli police. A small riot also took place in the Israeli-Arab town of Tayibe where locals burned tires at the town
caption: Mourning tent of Muhamed Abu Khdeir
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