Palestinian government condemns Chapel Hill killings as 'terrorism,' requests role in hate-crime probe

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry condemned the murder of three Palestinian-Americans in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, earlier this week as "terrorism," Reuters reports.

"We consider (the killings) a serious indication of the growth of racism and religious extremism which is a direct threat to the lives of hundreds of thousands of American citizens who follow the Islamic faith," the ministry said in a statement released Saturday.

Palestine also requested that its own investigators be included in a probe into whether Tuesday's shooting of Deah Barakat, 23, his wife Yusor Abu-Salha, 21, and her sister Razan Abu-Salha, 19, was indeed a hate-crime. The ministry called Craig Stephen Hicks, who has been charged in the murders, "an American extremist and hateful racist."

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up