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The Sharon mall in Netanya, scene of the attack on July 11, 2005. (file)
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| By israelinsider staff April 12, 2007 |
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The three Israelis who were convicted last month of driving a suicide bomber to a Netanya mall where he killed five people in July 2005, were sentenced to thirteen years in prison Thursday by the Tel Aviv District Court
Judge Oded Mudrik was forced to leave the courtroom before he finished reading the sentence, as relatives of the convicted men shouted accusations at the court and a fight then ensued between relatives and photographers.
Kfir Levy, 26, or Ramat Gan, Sif Azam, 35, or Taiba and Abed Abu Moch, 30, of Baka al-Gharbiya were convicted in March of five counts of manslaughter and 30 counts of causing severe injury.
Each of the three men drove the terrorist during some point of his journey from the West Bank to Netanya's Hasharon mall in exchange for NIS 1,000 (about $250).
Judge Mudrik ruled that the three men overlooked their suspicions about the terrorist and his accomplice, and were apparently satisfied when the would-be suicide bomber showed them bag full of tools, saying they were meant for stealing cars in Israel.
The Judge also ruled that one of them convicted men, Abed Abu Moch, was aware that the man was a terrorist, and knowingly brought him into Israeli territory.
According to Ynetnews, the court had stated during the March trial that "Kfir Levy had been warned by his brother against transporting suicide bombers into Israel, and Abu-Moch had been warned of the same by a Shin Bet operative."
Prosecutor Orli Ben-Ari requested harsh sentences for the three men given the nature of the crime, and to "highlight the severity of their actions."
She also requested that the men's drivers' licenses be revoked and their assets be expropriated.
After hearing the conviction in March, Ben-Ari was satisfied with the ruling.
"The decision establishes norms for dealing with such situations. There needs to be excess care, not a policy of deliberate blindness," she said
Yaron Horowitz, whose 16-year-old daughter and her friend were killed in the bombing, said after the conviction that the three men "got what they deserved, but they should have been indicted for murder, not manslaughter."
"The leader, who received $10,000 for driving with the suicide bomber to his location, was sentenced a few weeks ago by a military court to five life sentences, plus 20 years.
"The defendants in this case were partners to the murder, they deserve a life sentence, especially Levy, who succeeded in getting the perpetrators into Israel because he is Jewish," stated Horowitz.
Levy's brother, Rami, was also present in court. He is facing separate criminal charges for transporting illegal residents into Israel.
The court stated Thursday that Kfir Levy had been warned by his brother against transporting suicide bombers into Israel, and Abu-Moch had been warned of the same by a Shin Bet operative.
The bombing, which was planned and executed by the Tulkarm branch of the Islamic Jihad, killed five people and severely wounded 30.
Read More: Israeli terror accomplices convicted |
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