Beersheba District Court Judge Alon Gavizon sentenced Ziad Abu Aish, Yosef Badr, Zakaria Al-Sana'a and Bakr Abid to five years in prison, who were convicted under plea agreements of the offenses of throwing stones at vehicles, racially motivated vandalism and rioting - for their part in the riots that occurred during Operation "Guardian of the Walls.".
According to the amended indictments filed by Attorney Hofit Kentrowitz of the Southern District Attorney's Office, in which the defendants admitted, on the night of May 10-11, 2021, the defendants joined dozens of other rioters and blocked Highway 6 in the Lakia area using burning tires.
Later, stones were thrown at vehicles identified as being occupied by Jews, with chants of "Jew, Jew." In one case, a female driver who was caught in the act was rescued after the mob pelted her vehicle with stones, and the vehicle was later set on fire and burned.
In another case, a Thai citizen was attacked who was mistakenly suspected of being Jewish, and in another incident, another driver's car was pelted with stones, until he was injured and rescued from the scene.
As part of the arguments for sentencing, Attorney Kentrowitz requested that the defendants be given significant prison sentences and emphasized that the defendants took an active part in a violent riot on a nationalistic basis, and that the acts, which were committed in the midst of Operation "Guardian of the Walls," seriously harmed public security, the rule of law, and national resilience, and that considerations of deterrence and public protection should be prioritized over the personal circumstances of the defendants.
She further noted that these were violent, widespread, and unprecedented disturbances that damaged the sense of personal security, national resilience, and the fabric of life shared between the country's Jewish and Arab citizens, and even required the diversion of security forces from fighting the external enemy to dealing with an internal enemy, on the part of the country's residents living within it - residents who owe the state a duty of loyalty and are, unfortunately, supposed to express solidarity and mutual guarantee when the country's enemies outside attack it.
In the verdict, the court ruled that violent riots on nationalist grounds require a severe and deterrent punitive response. Judge Gavizon noted: "I would add that a violent riot, especially on nationalist grounds, is like a wildfire that often cannot be controlled... Moreover, riots such as this have the power to ignite additional riots throughout the country.
""The personal responsibility of the individual perpetrator is blurred within the ecstatic crowd of which he is a part, and the actions quickly escalate beyond what each participant would have done alone. The individual perpetrator receives strength from the others and his participation in the event feeds the others in a dangerous third symbiotic relationship and a chronicle of rapid escalation.".
"Therefore, the court must convey a deterrent, determined and intolerant message towards perpetrators of offenses such as in our case, so that they will "be seen and feared," through punishment in the form of long prison sentences behind bars.""
Each of the four defendants was sentenced to five years in prison. In addition, they were given suspended sentences, a fine of 10,000 NIS, and compensation to the complainants in the amount of 7,000 NIS.
