The mother of the IDF soldier who shot a wounded Arab terrorist in Hevron last Thursday wrote to Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon (Likud) on Sunday, criticizing how her son has been arrested and accused of murder. An Arab activist of the radical leftist NGO B'Tselem filmed the soldier shooting the terrorist, minutes after the latter stabbed and wounded another soldier. The soldier has argued he shot the terrorist over concerns he was about to detonate a bomb belt that was thought to be hidden under his unseasonable coat. The letter of the concerned mother to Ya'alon, who has publicly condemned the soldier, reads as follows: Since last Thursday my life has stopped and turned into one long, painful, wearying and ongoing day. It is so long and the blows come ceaselessly without any rest. Days without sleep, days in which the night turns into day and the day turns to night. Days in which worries strangle me and don't let me live. Days in which it seems I live owing something and without merit, and for what?? Because I relied on the establishment and sent my son to defend the state. I am the mother of the soldier that you sent on a mission to defend citizens of the state, and you abandoned him. A mother who sent her son to defend the state and its citizens, and the establishment returns fire and silences his voice. I am the mother of the child who for his entire adult life devoted himself to the state - a patriot, a lover of the land who dreamed of serving the state, but found himself betrayed by the establishment. I am the mother of the 19-year-old child who stands alone against the political and military echelon and cannot overcome it. I am the mother who gave the state her son and the establishment used him, renounced him and split him apart through its spokespeople. I am the one who is left behind, who needs to defend her family which is torn by the situation that was forced on it, who needs to deal with the questions of the children, the crying, the anger over the fate of their brother. Bring the child back to us, bring our lives back to us. Remember and don't forget that you stood in my son's place only in the room of Abu Jihad and you confirmed the killing of a despicable murderous terrorist. My son last Thursday also stood before a murderous terrorist, but the script has been flipped and the terrorist who came to murder has turned into a righteous among the gentiles, while my son became a murderer - have we gone crazy?! I, the mother of soldiers of Israel who bears on her shoulders the burden of all the children of Israel, turn to you and ask that you return the trust in the system to our son, and that you don't forget who the attacker really is. My son found himself in a complicated situation and I am sure that all of his intentions were to prevent a great tragedy from amid a feeling of risk that accompanied him from the moment he made the decision. Don't raise your hand against my son, stand by his side. He isn't just my son, he is the child of all of us, he is no different than many children who grow up in the state of Israel and yearn to reach the moment when they will enlist in the army to defend the citizens of the state, to defend me and you. I turn to you out of hopes that you will listen to my weakening voice. To the voice of my son that shouts to you from the basements of his arrest and asks that your memories from your days as commander of Sayeret (Matkal) return to you and stand in his merit today, as they stood in your merit when you defended the security of Israel. With blessings, The mother of the child who was abandoned by the establishment.
