Reuters Spits on Grave of Terror Victim

Today, palestinian terrorist Mohammed Harouf, who murdered his alleged lover, eight-months-pregnant Israeli Michal Halimi, was convicted as part of a plea deal.

The murder was a brutal and calculated act of terrorism.

During his interrogation, Harouf confessed to have strangled Halimi and striking her head with a rock. He said he then covered her body and left the scene in her car.

In addition to murder, Harouf was also convicted of car theft and of conspiring to commit a crime.

“The defendant murdered the deceased while she was carrying a baby in her womb, strangled her and tossed rocks on her. He didn’t even bury her, and instead left her covered in leaves, sand and a tire,” a representative from the State Attorney’s Office said at court.

“We’ve accepted the defendant’s version, according to which the murder of the deceased was nationalistically motivated, over the fact she was Jewish,” he added.

At an earlier court hearing, Harouf was asked by reporters why he committed the murder, to which he responded, “I wanted to release prisoners.” He also denied he was romantically involved with his victim, and then proceeded to kick guards before being physically removed from the court room while shouting, “I’ll kill all the Jews!”

Attorney Ruty Eldar, representing Halimi’s family, said at the conclusion of the hearing that, “The parents have said all along—and the court has now given it legal credence—that here was a man who carried out the premeditated murder of a Jewish woman.

“His hiding of the body caused the family untold suffering, which they can say has now ended. The case, as far as they’re concerned, is closed.”

This is absolutely sickening – but don’t look for too much sympathy from Dan Williams of Reuters, who seems to go out of his way to insert his brand of bias into his report about the conviction.

Israeli judges ruled on Sunday that a Jewish settler killed by a Palestinian with whom she was in a relationship was the victim of a political attack rather than a personal one.

Michal Halimi, 29, who was two months pregnant at the time of her death, went missing last May. Her body was discovered outside Tel Aviv in August, and Israeli police arrested Mohammed Harouf, a Palestinian.

Harouf, 30, said in a televised statement to the court in August that he had targeted Halimi “to free prisoners”. His lawyer, Elad Rath, said that Harouf’s plan had been to abduct Halimi and swap her for Palestinians held in Israeli jails, but that when she resisted he strangled and bludgeoned her to death.

Halimi was married and lived in the settlement of Adam in the occupied West Bank. Harouf, from Nablus, was working as a gardener in Holon, south of Tel Aviv, on the day of the murder.

Israeli prosecutors initially treated the case as non-political. Israeli media reprinted a photograph that had circulated on Facebook of Halimi and Harouf embracing and smiling.

But on Sunday, prosecutors agreed to a plea bargain under which Harouf will serve a life sentence for murder.

The amended indictment said Harouf had been in a “personal relationship” with Halimi but that he had attacked her “out of nationalistic motives, as she was Jewish”, in effect designating him as a Palestinian militant.

This means that Halimi’s next-of-kin will be entitled to state stipends given to relatives left bereaved by political violence.

Note the emphasis on the victim being a “settler” (as opposed to a person), and the terrorist’s designation as a “militant” (as opposed to “terrorist”, which is what those who murder out of nationalistic motives are designated). This seems intended to minimize the murderer’s crimes and reduce sympathy for his victim.

Unfortunately, this is par for the course for Reuters and others in the mainstream media.