Palestinian indicted for murder of IDF soldier Tomer Hazan

Nedal Amar allegedly lured his co-worker Hazan to the West Bank with promise of criminal score.

By YONAH JEREMY BOB
Tomer Hazan (photo credit: Courtesy Hazan family)
Tomer Hazan
(photo credit: Courtesy Hazan family)
Nedal Amar, who allegedly lured his co-worker, a 20-yearold soldier, with a promise of criminal score to the West Bank where he murdered him, was indicted on Thursday.
The Samaria Military Court also ordered Amar, 42, to stay in custody for the remainder of the legal proceedings against him.
Nedal told security forces that he led Sgt. Tomer Hazan, whom he was friendly with and worked with at a Bat Yam restaurant, to the West Bank, where he killed him.
He hoped to secure the release of his brother Nur al- Din Amar – arrested in 2003 for being part of a suicide bombing attack cell – by offering to return the soldier’s body.
Amar’s other brother and co-conspirator, Abd al-Salam Amar, was also indicted on Thursday and remanded to custody until the end of proceedings.
According to security sources, Nedal Amar lured Hazan to the West Bank by promising him an unspecified, fictional, low-level criminal score.
The indictment said that Nur al-Din had initially pressed Nedal Amar to kidnap a soldier in 2012 in order to gain his release in a Gilad Schalit-style prisoner swap. He promised him millions of shekels if he carried out the plan.
There is no evidence that Amar was involved with prior criminal activity and at Thursday’s hearing he told the press that he hoped Hazan was “the last victim.”
Nur al-Din Amar discussed the kidnapping with others in prison, including terror-linked operatives, to get their permission, sponsorship and funding for the attack, said the indictment.
Although Nur al-Din Amar initially expressed ambivalence towards Amar about whether the kidnapped soldier should be kept alive, during later discussions with the other prisoners involved in coordinating the attack, he expressed hope that the soldier would be kept alive so that the trade could be a live person for a live person, the indictment alleged.
Another famous prisoner whose support Nur al-Din repeatedly sought, but was rebuffed by, was former Fatah- Tanzim leader Marwan Barghouti, said the indictment.
The indictment stated that on the way to a deserted area with Hazan, Nedal Amar called Abd al-Salam Amar and told him to meet them there with his face covered and dressed to impersonate a Palestinian Authority policeman.
When Abd al-Salam Amar arrived, he began yelling at both Hazan and Nedal Amar, ordering them to turn around and place their hands against a nearby wall, said the indictment.
Next, Abd al-Salam Amar handcuffed both his brother and Hazan, the indictment alleged.
Following that, Abd al-Salam Amar placed a blindfold over Hazan and released his brother from his handcuffs that had been a part of the deception, according to the indictment.
At that point, Hazan, who was in the Israel Air Force when he was killed, pleaded for his life and vowed never to return to the West Bank, stated the indictment.
It alleged that, at Nedal Amar’s instruction, Abd al- Salam Amar handed Nedal Amar his belt, which he then used to strangle Hazan to death over several minutes in which Hazan resisted.
The brothers then collected personal items of Hazan’s in order to demonstrate to the authorities that they had kidnapped Hazan and hid his body at the bottom of a well, the indictment said.
The case has been almost constantly in the headlines because of the duplicity of Amar murdering someone who he knew and worked with.
Politicians across the spectrum, including Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, weighed in on the murder, which was a springboard for leaders on the Right to criticize the release of Palestinian terrorists.
UN officials made public comments condemning the murder and calling for calm.
There have been protests and attempts to burn the restaurant where Amar and Hazan worked.
Security forces raided Amar’s home in Beit Amin, south of Kalkilya, following intelligence reports linking him to Hazan through their workplace, and arrested him and another brother.
During questioning, Amar confessed to persuading the soldier to join him for a ride to his residence, the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) said.
“From previous cases, they [the terrorists] know how hard it is to keep kidnapped soldiers alive, due to our intelligence’s grasp of the area. We see from the past that they will tend to murder kidnapped soldiers and then negotiate [with Israel],” an army source said.
In March, a Palestinian resident of the West Bank appeared before an Israeli military court and was charged with attempting to set up a terrorist cell, after being recruited for the mission by Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
The suspect allegedly worked under the instruction of Hamas’s Gaza military wing, Izzadin Kassam, and plotted to fire rockets as well as kidnap and kill a soldier.
Yaakov Lappin contributed to this report.