1^st August 2015
The Executive Council of Aus­trali­an Jewry, the elected rep­res­ent­at­ive body of the Aus­trali­an Jewish community, is saddened, appalled and outraged by the heinous crime that took the life of Ali Saad Dawabsha, an 18 month old infant boy from Duma, south of Nablus in the West Bank.
It is under­stood that, in the early hours of the morning of Friday July 31^st, Jewish extrem­ists carried out an arson attack on two buildings. One building was unoc­cu­pied, while in the other building, slept the Dawabsha family. Ali Saad could not be rescued and died in the attack while his 4‑year-old brother and parents were evacuated to an Israeli hospital, having suffered moderate-to-serious burns.
While the per­pet­rat­ors of this cowardly and barbaric crime remain at large, the character of the attack is clear. This was an act of terror which has left an infant boy dead and shattered the lives of a young family. Nothing can excuse or mitigate the out­rageous crimin­al­ity of this incident. The per­pet­rat­ors have brought shame upon them­selves and have repu­di­ated the sacred values of Judaism, which uphold the sanctity of human life, espe­cially the life of a child, above all other values.
We have every con­fid­ence that all means available to the Israeli criminal justice system and the Israel Defence Forces will be swiftly mobilised to bring the killers to justice.
We welcome the swift and severe con­dem­na­tion of this terrible crime by:

• Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who has called the attack “a heinous, horrific act… which is a terrorist attack in every respect”;
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• the Israel Defence Forces, who have char­ac­ter­ized the incident as a “barbaric act of terrorism”, as their personnel are deployed through­out the West Bank in search of the per­pet­rat­ors; and
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• the leader of the Yesh Atid Party, Yair Lapid, who has said that “he who burns a Palestini­an baby declares war on the State of Israel”.

The arson and murder attack occurred at the approach of the Jewish Sabbath. In syn­agogues through­out Israel and the Jewish world, prayers have been offered for the soul of the murdered infant boy and for strength and solace for those who survive him.
We extend the tra­di­tion­al Jewish blessing to the family of Ali Saad Dawabsha. May they be blessed with long life and receive comfort from the Almighty. May they know strength in this unima­gin­ably difficult time and recover fully in body and in soul.

Contact:
Peter Wertheim AM Executive Director
ph: 02 8353 8500 | m: 0408 160 904
e: [email protected] | www.ecaj.org.au