Israel knows identities of Dawabsheh murderers

The Israeli Defence Minister has said he knows who is responsible for the arson attack that killed three members of the Palestinian Dawabsheh family, including a toddler, but that he will not take action against them.

Moshe Yaalon told a closed meeting of some 20 young Likud activists in Tel Aviv on Wednesday that he has chosen to prevent legal recourse against the extremist Israeli settlers responsible for the attack because he wants to protect the identity of his sources, according to Haaretz.

The Dawabsheh family home in Duma, West Bank, was set on fire in July, immediately killing 18-month-old Ali and critically wounding his mother, father and brother. His mother, Reham, and his father, Saad, have since died as well. His 4-year-old brother Ahmed is still in serious condition in hospital.

The words "Vengeance" and "long live the Messiah" were spray painted on the torched Dawabsheh family home, and an empty house was set ablaze as well. An eyewitness reported seeing four men flee the scene toward the illegal Israeli settlement of Maaleh Ephraim.

Three Jewish suspects were put under administrative detention following the attack, a practice which is commonly used to oppress Palestinians, but none of these names have been explicitly tied publicly to the arson attack.

Recently, the stabbing of a teenager at a Gay Pride and the firebombing of the Dawabsheh’s home have put pressure on Israel to crack down on Jewish extremists.

Following the arson, Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu tweeted, "The state of Israel takes a strong line against terrorism regardless of the perpetrators", reflecting the continual attempts from both Israel and the international community to separate settler violence from responsibility of the Israeli state.