Please click here for a list of posts relating to the May 2021 Arab rioting throughout Israel.
Tuesday, July 15, 2025, 20:09 On Monday, a penalty hearing was held for eight Arab terrorists who took part in a brutal attack on Yigal Yehoshua, Hy”d, in Lod, during Operation Guardian of the Walls (May 2021). In April, seven of the terrorists were convicted of aggravated assault in an act of terror, and the eighth was convicted of a different act of terror. During the attack, dozens of Arabs hurled cement blocks and rocks at Jewish motorists, among them Yehoshua. He was seriously injured in the head by a rock and died of his injuries several days later.
Yigal’s brother, Efraim, arrived at the hearing accompanied by Honenu Attorney Chayim Bleicher. He described to the judges his pain over the death of his brother, and demanded extremely stiff sentences for the terrorists: “From what I have been able to see in the video clips, when he was injured, nobody treated him. He was left wallowing in his own blood. It’s hard to forgive something like that. Our family has fallen apart. I hope that the court will sentence the terrorists appropriately, because Yigal didn’t deserve this.”
At the hearing, Honenu Attorney Chayim Bleicher noted that the attack resulted in Yehoshua’s death, a fact that must be taken into consideration when sentencing the terrorists: “When the plea bargain was explained to us, we insisted that the fact that his death was the result of the incident would be written in the indictment. The family wants to know that whoever ultimately caused the death of the deceased will be penalized, even if that is not explicitly expressed in the indictment. The result exists, and it has an impact.”
The representative of the State Attorney’s office demanded stiff sentencing: “Aggravated assault is at the upper extreme on the scale of violent crimes that do not cause death. The maximum penalty is 20 years’ imprisonment. The severity of the act is measured not only by the outcome, which in the matter at hand was serious, but also by the motive, the planning, the extent of the violence, the cruelty, etc. The defendants obviously intended to cause severe injury, and the act is categorized as an act of terror.”
Efraim Yehoshua (L) and Honenu Attorney Chayim Bleicher (R) speaking after the hearing (Hebrew); Video credit: Honenu
After the hearing, Attorney Bleicher stated, “Yigal was seriously injured by rocks thrown by terrorists, and in the end, he was pronounced dead. In fact, he was murdered by them. Due to legal issues with defining the cause of death, the crime was reduced in a plea bargain to ‘causing grievous bodily harm with intent in an act of terror’, even though it was obvious that the rock-throwing led to murder. The terrorists’ defense attorneys attempted to turn them into victims and made bizarre claims that hurt the family. Although the State Attorney’s office lessened the severity of the crimes, they insisted on stiff sentences for the terrorists because of the serious incident that occurred. We greatly appreciate the office’s sentencing.
“On behalf of the family, we talked about how, in the end, the terrorists brought about the death of Yigal Yehoshua and must not be let off easy. In truth, it would have been appropriate to sentence them to life imprisonment, if not more. However, in the current legal situation, we expect the court to sentence every terrorist to no less than 20 years. This is fair, because all of the terrorists were jointly involved in Yigal’s death. It was an act of terror and hatred of Jews, after they singled out Jews from Arabs. There must be deterrence. Terror must be stopped. We must fight terror with severe penalization.”
Efraim added: “I am contemplating my brother’s death. Yigal will not come back. For almost four years, the court heard testimonies from almost 90 people. I trust the court to understand that those who were in remand until this day are those who caused the death of my brother. My brother was murdered by rocks thrown. For that the court must follow the law in the State of Israel, and impose severe penalties.”