The Palestinian Authority's TV channel broadcast greetings to the convicted murderers of the Fogel family last week.

During a programme in which Palestinian prisoners are sent messages by their relatives, the mother of Hakim Awad, one of the two men who brutally killed Ehud and Ruth Fogel and their three young children in Itamar last March, "blessed" her "dear son" who "carried out the operation in Itamar and was sentenced to five life sentences".

Awad's aunt also appeared, calling her nephew, "the hero, the legend", and the programme's host conveyed his greetings to the two murderers.

The Awad family of Awarta near Nablus are veteran members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and, following their messages, dedicated a song "to the sound of the bullets of Ahmad Sa'adat and Hakim Awad".

Sa'adat is the PFLP leader, currently serving a 30-year sentence for planning the assassination of Tourism Minister Rehavam Zeevi in 2001.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called upon Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to condemn the broadcast.