This week a hearing was held for a minor, a 17-year-old Palestinian, who was convicted of not preventing the attack in Barkan, in which Kim Levengrond-Yehezkel HYD” and Ziv Hajbi HY”D were murdered.

The indictment against the minor shows that he met with the terrorist from Barkan several times before the attack and knew of his intentions. On the evening of the attack, the terrorist told him that his father would be released the next day from the Israeli prison, and he indicated that the terrorist intended to abduct Israelis, to use as bargaining chips towards the release of other terrorists.

According to the indictment, three months before the attack, the minor and the terrorist spoke, and the latter told him that he intended to carry out a shooting attack in the Barkan Industrial Zone where he works. The terrorist consulted with the minor and even asked him to join him. The minor asked the terrorist where he would get the weapons but refused to join the attack.

Two months later, the terrorist presented the child with an improvised weapon picture, explaining that he had purchased it for future use. The minor asked if the weapons would be used for the attack, and although the terrorist replied in the negative, the minor understood that the weapon was intended for the attack.

The day before the attack, the two met again, at which time the terrorist said to the minor that they were expected to have good news, and that the father of the minor would be released from Israeli prison. The young man asked how, but the terrorist did not answer clearly and only asked the minor to pray for him. The minor fulfilled his request.

As noted, even after the minor learned of the terrorist’s intention to carry out the attack, he did not act to prevent the act.

In addition, the minor was charged with attempting to smuggle a forbidden object into a prison. Avi Katin, who is serving a prison term in an Israeli prison, asked him to transfer items from a certain place to his mother. The boy received small cell phones wrapped in sticky black tape and handed them over to his mother in order to eventually reach his father in prison.

The Shomron Military Court sentenced the minor to eight months’ imprisonment for the aforementioned offenses, but the Military Advocate General’s Office appealed the leniency of the sentence, and the Appeals Court heard the appeal and a decision is pending in the case.

Attorney Chaim Bleicher of Honenu who represented the victims stated “The military court in Shomron made a serious mistake when it sentenced a defendant who did not prevent the murderous attack to only eight months in prison. When talking about terror and terrorists, only the most severe punishment can prevent the next attack”.

Bleicher criticized the court’s decision: “Closing the poor of the court from the situation in the country and attempting to judge the terrorists with mercy as if it were a minor criminal incident stemming from distress, can preserve the continuation of acts of terror and killing in our citizens.”

At the end of his speech, Attorney Bleicher asked the appellate court to impose a more severe sentence on the accused: “We demand that the Military Court of Appeals increase the punishment immediately to maximum punishment. We demand from the home of the military court that he consider the potential victims of terror and punish him.”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)