Hillel Fuld has called the ceasefire hostage deal between Israel and Hamas “a terrible deal, but a beautiful deal”, as he and his family await the release of the murderer of Hillel’s brother, Ari.
Ari Fuld, like his brother an immigrant to Israel from New York, was a well-known pro-Israel advocate and activist. He was waiting outside a shopping centre at the Gush Etzion junction in September 2018 when he was stabbed in the back by a teenage Palestinian, Khalil Yusef Jabarin.
Ari Fuld managed to shoot Jabarin, but collapsed after the stabbing and later died in hospital. Jabarin was treated for his wounds in hospital and was later convicted of Ari Fuld’s murder and sentenced to life in prison.
But Jabarin’s name appears on the list of those Palestinian prisoners due to be released in the current ceasefire/hostage deal.
Hillel Fuld, who works in hi-tech and is an assiduous blogger on social media, said that learning Jabarin was due to be released was “like a punch in the gut for me, a punch in the stomach. This guy basically destroyed our family. I mean, we’re still here and we’re thriving, but the family dynamic with the loss of Ari, that’s changed for ever. The fact that he [Jabarin] is getting out, and my brother Ari is gone — that’s a real punch in the stomach”.
Jabarin is not set to be freed until the last part of the deal in several weeks’ time. Despite a statement from various Israeli bodies including the police, the IDF and the Ministry of Justice that families would be notified and supported when “terrorists involved in the murder of their loved ones” were due to be released, Fuld said he had not been contacted by anyone in the Israeli government. “Nor, as far as I know, have other members of our family.”
He said he did not think opposing the hostage deal and the release of Palestinian prisoners “is the best use of our time right now. We’re focused, as a family, in getting our hostages home. The deal is a terrible deal, but it’s also a beautiful deal. Once the Supreme Court rejected petitions against the deal, I don’t think there’s any action we can take right now”.
On January 19 the Israeli Supreme Court rejected a series of petitions filed against the implementation of the hostage-ceasefire deal with Hamas. The petitions had called for the court to intervene to prevent the release of Palestinian security prisoners as part of the agreement, but the judges said “It is not our place or custom to intervene in matters of this type in which the scope of judicial review is extremely narrow”.
Hillel Fuld described the deal as something which operated “on two parallel lines, will never meet but which co-exist. It is beautiful because it brings our hostages back home, but terrible because it allows terrorists to be released and walk freely”.
