Terror victims receive compensation, precedent set

Tuesday, September 10, 2019, 9:09 In a precedential case of compensation paid to victims of a rock-throwing attack, three women who encountered an ambush of rock-throwers near Kafr Sinjil received compensation directly from the terrorists. The women were injured by rocks thrown near the Arab village Kafr Sinjil in the Binyamin region approximately two and a half years ago and recently received monetary compensation from the terrorists who were convicted in a criminal trial.
The attack occurred during a demonstration in Kafr Sinjil in solidarity with hunger-striking prisoners held in Israeli prisons. In the framework of the demonstration the terrorists intentionally engaged in clashes with the security forces and to that end threw rocks at Israeli vehicles passing by.
The bill of indictment states regarding the charges that, “When they reached a segment of Route 60 they [the victims] discerned a mass disturbance including rioters throwing rocks at Israeli vehicles driving on Route 60. Then the three terrorists joined the mass disturbance, during which they threw rocks at Israeli vehicles as they drove by.”
In a plea bargain, the three terrorists were convicted of throwing objects at a moving vehicle. Active prison sentences and payment of monetary compensation to the injured parties were imposed on the terrorists. Recently the injured parties received the compensation money.
Tamar Nizri, who was injured with her daughters by the rocks thrown by the rioters, described the attack: “I will never be able to forget that Friday afternoon, the excitement and happiness at the start of the ride to the sea, the girls who were already waiting in the car with their bathing suits and bags of snacks, and then everything was cut off by a resounding ‘boom’ and glass shattered when the Arab terrorists surrounded us from the left and from above and barraged the car with boulders and rocks.
“I don’t know how I managed to remain calm, continue driving and get out of the ambush of thrown rocks. I think that I entered a survival mode. The injuries of my nine-year old daughter, on whom the window shattered, healed within a few days, but the anxiety attacks still recur at night, while traveling and whenever there are Arabs in the area. ‘Mom, are we going to drive by Sinjil today?’ is a question asked at the beginning of every trip.
“When we know that incidents such as this aren’t being passed over without a response, that terrorists are paying a price, and are being obligated to compensate the victims, hope is strengthened that our dignity as individuals, as a family and as a people, is likely to be regained and that our capability as a nation to deter terror will be strengthened. We appreciate and thank Honenu for protecting the human dignity of the residents of Yehuda and Shomron,” concluded Nizri.
Honenu Attorney Chayim Bleicher, who has been assisting the families with realizing their rights as victims of terror, stated that, “There is great importance to involving the victims in every case being handled against terrorists. Involving victims results in increased stringency of penalties imposed on terrorists, including in cases of rock-throwing. Additionally forcing terrorists to pay compensation out of their own pockets to the victims whom they injured or attempted to injure sends a strong message.
“We see the great influence that penalization has on deterring potential terrorists, and we understand that we are still at the beginning of a process. The ultimate goal is for a terrorist who emerges alive, after throwing a rock at a car or after any other attack, to expect to serve a very long prison sentence and to pay fines and compensation out of his own pocket.”