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Gal Gabai; Photo credit: Honenu
Tuesday, March 12, 2024, 15:22 Yesterday (Monday), the Supreme Court rejected a request by a terrorist for a delay in carrying out the five-and-a-half-year sentence handed down to him. The terrorist, who stabbed Meir Gabai in Lod during Operation Guardian of the Walls (May 2021), will start to serve his sentence in three weeks. Until then, he will stay at his sister’s home and not in the closed institution in which he has been held until now. The terrorist was also sentenced to nine months’ imprisonment in a different case.
Gal Gabai, the victim’s wife, said, “The vicious terrorist tried to murder my husband and could murder more Jews. The court gave him three weeks to stay in his sister’s home. We are very concerned that he will injure other Jews.”
Honenu Attorney Chayim Bleicher, who is representing the victim, said after the hearing, “Even though the terrorist was involved in many violent incidents, he had the gall to ask for a delay in beginning his sentence. His stay in a closed institution instead of prison is a grave failure that endangers the public peace. The court rejected the terrorist’s request for a delay, but allowed him three weeks to prepare for his prison sentence. During that time, he will stay in his sister’s home. Expert opinions by the Probation Service show that the terrorist feels frustrated by his upcoming imprisonment, which renders him an even more dangerous threat. We hope that the terrorist will not attack Israeli citizens while he is staying at his sister’s house.”
In May 2021, as Gabai returned home from prayers in the synagogue, a group of Arabs attacked him with rocks as they called out, “Allah akbar.” One of the Arabs stabbed and injured Gabai with a pocketknife as his wife watched the attack from her window.
In June 2023, the Lod District Court convicted the terrorist of aggravated assault and an act of terror. The court sentenced him in January 2024 to only five and a half years’ imprisonment. The lenient sentence was handed down despite the terrorist’s previous involvement in several extremely violent incidents for which he was convicted previously, and despite his failure to express complete remorse for his acts.