An Arab student of special education was convicted this week as part of a plea bargain for stabbing two Haredim who were on their way to the Kotel during Operation Guardian of the Walls last May, Mynet Jerusalem reported Monday (חודשי מאסר נגזרו על מחבל שדקר חרדים במבצע שומר החומות; השופטת: לא נראו מבוהלים). Judge Tamar Bar-Asher said in her ruling: “The manner of the event which was recorded in videos did not indicate any fear of the defendant on the part of the complainants at the scene of the incident. They conducted themselves with great confidence.”
One of the victims reacted in astonishment to the judge’s light ruling, asking: “What did she want us to do? Stand and do nothing? Go like sheep to the slaughter?”
The State Attorney’s Office is considering an appeal of the sentence to the Supreme Court. The judge sentenced the terrorist to 11 months in prison. That’s 5.5 months per stabbed Jewish victim.
On April 24, 2121, Oddi Abu Thaya was driving on Derech Schechem in Jerusalem when he spotted two young Jews marching to the Kotel dressed in Haredi attire. According to the indictment, Abu Thaya then decided to attack them. He stopped his car, got out holding a sharp object, and asked them, “Where are you going?” The two answered, “To the Kotel,” and he began to beat them in their faces with the sharp object. One of the Jewish men, a reservist in the Duvdevan special force, pulled out his personal weapon and neutralized Abu Thaya while dozens of young Arabs began to gather at the scene and try to free him. A school principal, the reserves officer said that he sustained scars near his left eye from the stabbing, experiences fear every day when he is alone in the dark, has difficulty sleeping and falling asleep, and has flashbacks and restlessness dating back to the day of the attack.
The second victim told Mynet Jerusalem: “I just want to tell the terrorist that to the age of 120 I will never forget the look of murderous lust in his eyes. My feeling of persecution and fear following his sudden onslaught on us never goes away. Since the attack, I have had neither day nor night. As my wife says, there was me before the attack and there is me after the attack.”
Abu Thaya explained that he has a hard life, being forced to endure random searches by police in his neighborhood of Silwan.
The judge, who did not compel the defendant to pay compensation to his two victims, appeared repulsed by the fact that the two Jews roughed up their assailant. She wrote as much in her ruling: “The complainants behaved with great confidence. This was reflected in the way in which the accused was beaten, kicked, and stepped on him even though many people were looking on.”
“In these circumstances, I did not consider it appropriate to compel the defendant to compensate the complainants,” the judge wrote.
In the future, if you want compensation, let your Arab assailant hurt you more seriously, and, for heaven’s sake, do not hit back… Like this unfortunate young man: