One of the members of the terrorist cell that shot and killed 26-year-old Malachi Rosenfeld was sentenced to life in prison on Sunday. Rosenfeld was returning home from a game of basketball with his friends at the time of the attack, which took place in June 2015, near the Jewish community of Shilo.
Rosenfeld’s family had already been through a horrible nightmare of loss with the death of his older brother, an Israeli Air Force pilot who died 13 years ago during a trip in southern Israel.
The driver of the terrorist cell, Abdullah Ishaq also was sentenced by the Judea Military Court to an additional 30 years in prison for the attempted murder of three other Israelis.
Rosenfeld’s father noted with bitterness, however, “The terrorist who was behind all these murders was released in the [Gilad] Shalit deal and ran a terror cell for half a year under the nose of security forces by transferring money and gifts and all kinds of codes and instructions to the killers.”
Eliezer Rosenfeld added in his statement to media,”For us, this isn’t closure. The wound is still open and the loss of Malachi is always present.
“We would like to thank the military prosecution and the judges for their sympathy and for the special attention to the letter we read during sentencing which chilled the courtroom. It is extremely difficult for us to see the face of that terrorist. We prefer to concentrate on Malachi’s face.”