[Dr. Aaron Lerner - IMRA:

Lesson to human rights NGO's: don't bank on the testimony of the mother of a
terrorist:

Here is what the mother first claimed as reported in Gulf Today

Two held for killing in West Bank settlement - April 18, 2011
http://gulftoday.ae/portal/7978a474-fb0f-47cc-9f8b-9e0183ddb180.aspx

...Hakim Awad’s mother Nouf Awad told AFP it was “impossible” that her son
had committed the murder because he had a solid alibi.

“It wasn’t my son who did it,” she said at her home in Awarta. “It is
impossible that it’s him, he was with me the whole night that the incident
happened.”

And here is what she says now: "My greetings to dear Hakim, the apple of my
eye, who carried out the operation in Itamar, sentenced to 5 life
sentences"]

=======

PMW Bulletin

Jan. 29, 2012

On PA TV: Glorification of Fogel family murderers

Mother of Hakim Awad, killer of 5 Fogel family members:
"My greetings to dear Hakim, the apple of my eye, who carried out the
operation in Itamar, sentenced to 5 life sentences"

Aunt of Hakim Awad:"Hakim Awad, the hero, the legend"

PA TV host:
"We [PA TV] also convey our greetings to them"
http://palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=157&doc_id=6245

Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik
p:+972 2 625 4140 e: pmw@palwatch.org
f: +972 2 624 2803 w: www.palwatch.org

Twice last week, official Palestinian Authority TV broadcast greetings to
the murderers of the Fogel family from the relatives of the killers and from
the PA TV host.

On March 11, 2011, five members of the Fogel family were killed in their
home in the Israeli town Itamar by Palestinian terrorists from the Awad
family. Hakim Awad led the attack, killing the parents Ehud and Ruth and
three of their children, aged 11 years, 4 years, and 2 months.

The weekly PA TV program For You dedicated to Palestinian prisoners in
Israeli prisons let the mother and aunt of one of the murderers praise the
terrorists as "heroes." After the mother of the murderer Hakim Awad
explained how she is prevented from visiting her son for security reasons,
the PA TV host said: "Go ahead, sister, we can convey your voice."

On the phone, Hakim Awad's mother "blesses" her "dear son," and despite the
fact that participants in this TV program normally do not mention the terror
attacks for which their relatives are serving time, the mother mentions that
her son is the one who "carried out the operation in Itamar and sentenced to
5 life sentences," referring to her son's brutal killings in the town
Itamar.

Hakim Awad's aunt also participated in the program and referred to the
terrorists involved in the killings as "heroes," calling Hakim Awad "the
hero, the legend." This prompted the PA TV host to add: "We, for our part,
also convey our greetings to them."

It was Hakim Awad who killed Ehud and Ruth Fogel and their young children
with a knife. The other Awad family members praised on the program as
"heroes" were either accessories to the murders or helped destroy evidence.

Although this was a phone conversation, the editors of the PA TV program and
its host did know in advance that the callers were relatives of the Fogel
murderers. The host introduced them before the conversation took place and a
text with the names of the callers appeared at the bottom of the screen:
"Prisoner Hakim Awad's family / Awarta - Nablus."

The program was broadcast on official PA TV on January 19 and 21.

The following is the full transcript of the greetings on PA TV:

PA TV host: "We have a call from the family of prisoner Hakim Awad."
Mother of Hakim Awad: "I thank you for connecting me with my son, because I
and all of the family are prevented for security reasons [from visiting
him].
Host: "Go ahead, sister, we can convey your voice."
Mother of Hakim Awad: "My greetings to dear Hakim, the apple of my eye, from
the village of Awarta, 17 years old, who carried out the operation in Itamar
(i.e., killing of 5 Fogel family members), sentenced to 5 life sentences and
another 5 years, in prison."
Aunt of Hakim Awad: "I'm the sister of prisoner Hassan Awad and of Salah
Awad; [I am] Um Habib, from the village of Awarta. My warm greetings to all
the great heroic prisoners, to my brother Hassan Awad, head of the village
council; to my brother Salah Awad, the heroic prisoner journalist; to the
heroic, resolute prisoner, the lion, Yazid Awad, my nephew; and to my nephew
Hakim Awad, the hero, the legend."
Host: "We [PA TV], for our part, also convey our greetings to them."
Aunt of Hakim Awad: "I dedicate this song to Hassan Awad, Yazid Awad, Hakim
Awad, and Salah Awad, in prison:
'My brother, in solitary confinement, your voice calls to me
You dare not throw down the rifle
That is what the homeland asked of me
In your eyes, we are all self-sacrificing fighters.
I convey greetings to the sound of the bullets of Ahmad Sa'adat and Hakim
Awad.'"
Host: "Thank you for being with us, the family of prisoners Hassan and Salah
Awad of Awarta."
[PA TV (Fatah), Jan. 19 and 21, 2012]

Ahmad Sa'adat, mentioned in the song recited by Hakim Awad's aunt, is
serving a 30-year sentence for heading the Popular Front for the Liberation
of Palestine terror organization. He is also suspected of having planned the
assassination of Israeli Minister of Tourism, Rehavam Ze'evi, in 2001, but
was not tried.