Tel Aviv suspect's relative: We warned police about him in the past
Family member claims law enforcement was dismissive of warnings about Nashat Melhem, believed to be the terrorist who murdered three people in Tel Aviv; Nashat's mother questioned for 10 hours by police.
A relative of Nashat Melhem, believed to be the terrorist who murdered three people in Tel Aviv, claimed on Wednesday that the family had warned police about Nashat on several occasions to no avail.
Police said that "because it is not possible to get real, accurate concrete information about the claims, we cannot discuss the crux of the matter."
Also Wednesday, Nashat's brother Jodat was released from arrest without any conditions. "We had nothing to do with the terror attack," he said upon the release. "We are sorry for what happened."
Several members of the Melhem family were arrested on Tuesday, including the father, Mohammed, on suspicion of acting as accessories to murder.
The relative, Ahmed Melhem, told Ynet that to the best of his knowledge, Nashat's father did not speak with him after the terror attack, a suspicion currently held by police.
"All that happened was that he got a call from a friend who recognized a cartridge that is rare in Israel, and who knew he had such a weapon," he said. "He had no conversation with his son."
"Even if there was such a conversation," he said, "I assume, I am certain, that the father urged him to turn himself in, or tried to figure out how he could be brought in for arrest."
Nechumi Feinblatt, who is legally representing Mohammed and Nashat's brother, Jodat, said: "We knew they would arrest the father. As long as they don't arrest the gunman, they'll keep arresting more relatives and others. The father and other arrestees are suspected of extremely dangerous things."
Nashat's mother was held for questioning by police, and was interrogated for over ten hours before being let go. "The interrogators put a great deal of pressure on her," a relative told Ynet.
The mother, a woman in her 50s, told her family that the police investigators threatened that her home would be demolished if she did not reveal where her son was hiding. "I told them we didn't know where he had disappeared to," the mother recounted to relatives.
She told interrogators that "my husband and all of my family members have nothing to do with the attack. I call on the police to release them, because they didn't do anything."
The mother also urged her son to come out of hiding. "I'm begging Nashat to turn himself in because otherwise we would not get out of this emotional and social crisis."
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