The community of Halamish. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

JNS.org – Israel’s Ofer military court on Wednesday convicted 19-year-old Palestinian terrorist Omar al-Abed on three counts of murder, five months after he fatally stabbed an Israeli father and two of his adult children in the Samaria community of Halamish.

Abed appeared in the courtroom with a large grin on his face and received four life sentences for the massacre — one for each of the slain victims and an additional life sentence for other crimes, including incitement and attempted murder.

The victims were Yosef Salomon, 70, his daughter Chaya, 46, and his son Elad, 36. Yosef’s wife Tova, 68, was wounded in the attack.

“In a person’s last moments before passing away, he sees before his eyes a face filled with love and compassion and feels the desire to ease his pain as much as possible,” Dan Landa, the father of Elad Salomon’s widow, Michal, said at the court hearing.

“In their last moments, Yossi, Chaya and Elad saw the face of the devil, filled with hate and a passion to cause pain and suffering,” he said.

Regarding the court’s decision, Israeli Deputy Defense Minister Eli Ben-Dahan stated, “I am glad that this lowly terrorist, who killed the Salomon family from Halamish, was convicted. The way to make this punishment complete is by removing his family from Israel.”