BICOM

21-year-old Amiram Ben-Uliel was charged yesterday with the murders of three members of the Dawabshe family, having set fire to their home in the West Bank village of Duma in July. An unnamed 17-year-old minor was charged with conspiracy over the murders and other offences.

Ben-Uliel faces three counts of murder and the 17-year-old is accused of being an accomplice to the murders as well as other crimes such as an arson attack at the Dormition Abbey in Jerusalem. The suspects are thought to be part of an extremist group, which the Justice Ministry said possesses a “violent ideological agenda the goal of which was to undermine the stability of the State of Israel by violent terrorist acts.”

Ben-Uliel apparently carried out the Duma attack as supposed revenge for the June drive-by shooting which killed an Israeli, Malachi Rosenfeld. He is said to have set out towards Duma with a bag containing flammable liquid, rags, a lighter, a box of matches, gloves and a can of black spray-paint. The minor was supposed to meet him at a pre-arranged rendezvous but failed to show and so Ben-Uliel carried out the attack by himself. A Justice Ministry statement says that, “Ben-Uliel looked for a home with indications that it was inhabited.” He threw one firebomb into a home which proved to be abandoned but hurled another inside the home of the Dawabshe family, killing parents Sa’ad and Riham Dawabshe and their 18-month-old son.

The Duma murders caused outrage across the Israeli political spectrum. Speaking to his cabinet yesterday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the country stands against murder and violence “of any kind” and that, “We are a state of law and we will enforce the law throughout the State of Israel and vis-à-vis all citizens of Israel.”

Meanwhile, a further five Jewish extremists were also charged yesterday with six separate attacks on Arabs and their property. They include an arson at the Church of the Multiplication in the Galilee region.