Mayor of Hebron Tayseer Abu Sneineh was arrested early Tuesday morning after an IDF raid of his home, the Hebron Municipality reported.
His arrest was due to his ongoing terrorist activities within the southern West Bank city, according to its Israeli municipality.
The Municipal Council in Hebron Municipality strongly condemns the footsteps of the Israeli Underworld Forces today, Tuesday, on the arrest of the Mayor of Hebron Municipality, Mr. Tesir Abu Sunina, after a large military force broke into his house and violated his sanctity and messed with its contents, causing heavy material damage,” the Hebron Palestinian Municipality posted on Facebook.
“This blatant assault not only targets a mayor, but it targets the will of the people of Hebron City and its elected institutions, and constitutes a blatant assault on the democratic process and the right of our people to administer their affairs and serve their city with freedom and dignity.”
The council then called on international, legal, and humanitarian organizations to pressure Israel for the mayor’s immediate release.
The Israeli Municipality posted on Facebook as well. “The IDF forces arrested in the morning the terrorist Thaisir Abu Senina, who has been serving in recent years as the mayor of Khalil (Hebron).”
The municipality went on to share the reaction of the Hebron local councilor, Eyal Gelman, “The arrest of the terrorist Abu Senina proves again the duty of the State of Israel to take back the reins and appoint itself a mayor, as it was before the Hebron Accord in 1997. The time has come to unite the city again under complete Israeli control.”
Sneineh's previous terrorist activities
Abu Sneineh was one of four Palestinians behind the murder of six Israeli yeshiva students in 1980.
The students, including two American citizens and a Canadian national, were part of a group that had danced from the Cave of the Patriarchs to Beit Hadassah in Hebron when Abu Sneineh and his terror cell opened fire. The six students were killed, and 16 others were wounded.
The Palestinians were convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison, but they were later released in various prisoner exchanges Israel carried out throughout the 1980s. Abu Sneineh was released in a prisoner swap in 1983.