David Friedman, the United States ambassador to Israel, visited the family of 31-year-old Yotam Ovadia, who was murdered by a Palestinian terrorist on July 26. The Palestinian Authority (PA) denounced Friedman’s act of sympathy as “provocative.”
The PA Foreign Ministry said in a statement that it condemns “the provocative visits by the ambassador of the Trump administration to Tel Aviv to settlements in the occupied West Bank.”
Friedman responded in a tweet:
Yesterday I visited a young widow grieving the death of her husband, murdered last week by a Palestinian terrorist. I was heartbroken by her tears and those of her in-laws who had lost their only son. Today, the PA Foreign Ministry condemned my visit. Nothing more to say.
— Ambassador Tom Nides (@USAmbIsrael) July 31, 2018
Friedman visited Adam (Geva Binyamin) outside Jerusalem on July 30 during the Ovadia family’s weeklong Shiva to pay his condolences.
“I was heartbroken to see the tragic impact of the murder of Yotam Ovadia — a young mother left alone to care for two small children, parents grieving for their only son,” Friedman said when he left the Ovadia home. “Words are insufficient to describe the evil and barbarity of the terrorist act.”
Ovadia was stabbed to death by 17-year-old Palestinian terrorist Mohammad Tareq Yousef, who also injured two other Israelis before being shot to death by one of his victims. The other two Israelis have survived their injuries.
“Shocked to hear of the brutal terror attack in Adam that left 31 year-old Yotam Ovadia dead and two others injured,” Friedman tweeted at the time. “My heartfelt prayers for all the families. All life is sacred, but premeditated murder cries out for condemnation. Not hearing it from Palestinian leadership.”
Shocked to hear of the brutal terror attack in Adam that left 31 year-old Yotam Ovadia dead and two others injured. My heartfelt prayers for all the families. All life is sacred, but premeditated murder cries out for condemnation. Not hearing it from Palestinian leadership.
— Ambassador Tom Nides (@USAmbIsrael) July 27, 2018
Friedman’s predecessor, Daniel Shapiro, visited the families of those murdered by Palestinian terrorists on a couple of occasions.
