Tuesday, April 17, 2018, 18:37 On Tuesday, April 17, the Jerusalem Magistrate Court
Letter from David Malka to Judge Shmuel Herbst
imposed prison sentences on the accomplices of the terrorists who murdered border policewoman Hadas Malka, Hy”d, in a terror attack near Sha’ar Shechem (the Damascus Gate) in the Old City of Jerusalem on June 16, 2017.
The two accomplices, Hani Dari, a resident of Israel, and Muhammad Hamdan, a resident of PA controlled territory, were convicted in the framework of a plea bargain of causing death by negligence and illegally transporting persons from PA controlled territory to Israel. According to the indictment, the accomplices transported by bus from the area of Ramallah to Jerusalem approximately 50 people, among them several passengers who did not have entry permits, and the three terrorists. They drove on the Dead Sea Road, to Arad and on Route 6 in order to make it difficult for the security forces to prevent the entrance to Israel of the passengers who did not have entry permits.
Jerusalem Magistrate Court Judge Shmuel Herbst handed down prison sentences of 14 and 16 months imprisonment, suspended sentences, and imposed monetary compensations. In his decision the judge mentioned the upcoming Memorial Day: “I can ask nothing other than that from Heaven will the Malka Family be consoled, and that they will never have more sorrows or grief, they and all other victims of terror for whom the National Memorial Day will commence in a few hour’s time.”
Additionally Judge Herbst quoted the letter that Hadas Malka’s father, David, had sent to the court and also repeated what he had said during a deliberation in mid-April 2018: “Perhaps this penalty will be a sharp and clear message to accomplices to terror that they also are responsible for behaving and thinking reasonably – nothing more and nothing less.”
Honenu Attorney Chayim Bleicher, who has been assisting Hadas Malka’s family at court deliberations and ensuring that they receive their full rights as victims of terror, stated that, “We are pleased with the verdict which is directed at the accomplices to terror. The defendants in their criminal acts, even if they were done out of indifference for the dangerous results, enabled the terrorists to carry out their plot and therefore a severe penalty is necessary. The war on Islamic terror demands war also on its breeding ground. On the eve of the Memorial Day for Israel’s Fallen Soldiers and Victims of Terrorism it is fitting to honor those who due to circumstances beyond their control became “public emissaries”: the victims of terror. The victims of terror assisted by Honenu play a significant role in the legal proceedings against terrorists, their accomplices and their collaborators, thereby strengthening the legal system to impose penalties which serve as a deterrence and help eradicate terror.”