Honenu Attys. (L to R) Keidar and HaLevi; Photo credit: Honenu
Wednesday, June 19, 2024, 12:31 Today (Wednesday), the Central District Court in Lod imposed heavy sentences of 42 and 36 months’ imprisonment on two Jewish Shomron residents convicted of assaulting Arabs in Hawara after a rock attack in the town on Purim in 2023. The complainants were also awarded NIS 45,000 in compensation. Note that Jews drive through the Arab town of Hawara on their way to and from a bloc of Jewish communities in Gav HaHar as a matter of course.
On the Purim holiday, March 6-7 in 2023, several minutes after Arab rioters from Hawara barraged Jewish cars with rocks, a group of Jews came to the site to protest against rock attacks and were also attacked. The incident over which the residents were charged with assault began a few minutes afterward. The situation in the area was already tense following the murder of two brothers, Yagel and Hallel Niv, both residents of Har Bracha, a community in Gav HaHar, in Hawara several days prior to the incident.
Both of the Jewish detainees were held under severe conditions, underwent harsh interrogations by the GSS, and were initially not allowed to meet with an attorney. They filed complaints against their interrogators with Mivtan over the violation of their rights. Mivtan is the department of the Justice Ministry authorized to investigate complaints by GSS detainees.
Honenu Attorneys Adi Keidar and David HaLevi, who represented the detainees, stated, “In our opinion, the court did not consider the entirety of the particular circumstances of the incident, including the delicate security situation and the terror attacks against Jews that preceded the incident. The court handed down unreasonably stiff sentences to our clients. We are considering an appeal.”