The various stories on this indicate that she was also married to an Israeli man and that it is not known who the father of the baby was.

and religious boundaries

That is pretty specific to certain politically and/or religiously minded folks.

to him if he were thought to be literally in bed with Israelis/Jews, people viewed as collaborators wind up as murder victims.

That's an entirely different layer of pathology, of course.

They have a tendency to look for attention and will say what they think will get them attention. Why pander to them?

I suspect that most perpetrators are looking for exculpation more than attention. Is this the sort of thing that would get him off for the crime? Of course not. But would it make his time in jail easier with other Arab prisoners? I think so. He may not have meant it, but it seems as if he was playing to an audience.

Hope he goes to prison.