The military court in Judea on Wednesday sentenced the terrorist Yassin Ata to 10.5 years in prison for attempted murder. Ata threw a stone from his vehicle at the vehicle of a Jewish family near Neveh Tzuf, Samaria, two years ago and injured one of the family’s girls in the head.
Ata was also ordered to pay the family NIS 35,000 ($10,000) in compensation, of which NIS 25,000 ($7,000) was paid in advance and the rest to be paid later. The judges emphasized that if the terrorist does not pay the rest of the compensation, he will serve an additional year in prison.
In November 2022, Ata’s cohort in the attack, Mahmoud Zahran, was sentenced to 6 years in prison.
Honenu attorney Haim Bleicher accompanied the family members in the legal proceedings against the terrorists.
The judges wrote in their ruling that “the offense was committed to harm Israelis out of an ideological nationalist motive. The throwing of the stone caused the victim of the offense a very serious injury which troubles her to this day physically and mentally. The accused was aware of her injury as a result of his throwing of the stone but fled the scene.”
In August 2020, the terrorist left the village of Deir Abu Mashal together with his friend to throw stones at Jewish vehicles. The terrorist and his accomplice drove on the road near the settlement of Neve Tzuf. When they noticed the Jewish family’s car, they slowed down and the terrorist threw the stone at the Jews’ car from point-blank range. The stone smashed the windshield of the car and hit the head of the family member, who was 10 years old at the time, seriously injuring her. After that, the terrorist and his accomplice fled the scene.
Attorney Bleicher, representing the family, said after the verdict: “This is an attack that could have ended with a fatal outcome. We congratulate the security forces and the prosecutor’s office that led to the capture of the terrorists and their prosecution with real punishment and for the compensation collected from the terrorists. The fight against terrorism must be rigid and uncompromising and we believe that the level of punishment against those terrorists must continue to be raised further, and we will work to that end together with the victims of the crime to raise the level of punishment as much as possible.”
