The Haifa District Court on Monday sentenced Adham Bashir, a 25-year-old Arab-Israeli, to ten years in prison for his involvement in the attempted lynching of Mor Janashvili during Operation Guardian of the Walls in May 2021.

Bashir, who pleaded guilty, was convicted in a plea bargain for charges of aggravated assault as a terrorist act, infliction of severe injury under aggravated circumstances as a terrorist act, and rioting.

Bashir was one of dozens of Arab rioters in Akko who threw stones at Janashvili’s car while he was driving, which caused him to lose control and smash into a wall. Janashvili then exited the car in an attempt to flee the scene but was then beaten with clubs and iron rods and his car was set on fire.

Ironically, an Arab resident of Akko, a male nurse at the Galil Medical Center, helped save Janashvili’s life, who had meanwhile lost consciousness, by protecting him and providing him with emergency medical aid and then driving him to the hospital. Janashvili had suffered serious injuries, including internal bleeding and two brain hemorrhages, and required a prolonged hospital stay and long-term rehabilitation. Some of his injuries caused permanent damage and he walked into the court on Monday with the help of a walker.

In their decision, the judges wrote, among other things: “The incident before us is nothing more than a lynching during which Mor was attacked in a severe and cruel manner. Mor’s entire sin was the fact that he is Jewish. No one should be attacked in our country, and the matter is doubly serious when the reason for that savage attack is the victim’s religious-national identity. This is an ugly and dark attack that requires significant punishment.”

The Honenu legal aid organization responded to the verdict by stating: “This is a defendant whose part in the lynching was relatively small and who admitted to the indictment from the beginning. The judges ruled that without his confession, he would have received a stiffer sentence. And this actually dictates the direction of the sentences of those who were more active which we expect to be for many more years. We thank the prosecutor’s office and the judges for increasing deterrence towards terrorists via the sentence. We hope that those involved in the lynching will be punished to the full extent of the law.”

Matan Peleg, chairman of the Im Tirtzu movement, who accompanied Mor Janashvili to the court hearings, stated: “Until terrorists receive a life sentence without the possibility of amnesty, they will not be deterred. A reality in which a terrorist who carries out a lynching will be released from prison in another seven years is intolerable. We will continue to accompany the victims of terrorism and make sure that there is a revolution in punishment and deterrence.”

The prosecutor’s office has filed charges against eight residents of Akko for the attempted lynching.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)