Terrorist ordered to pay victim 30,000 NIS compensation

Wednesday, November 28, 2018, 10:18 The Military Court in the Shomron sentenced the terrorist Ta’amar Shokat Ahmed Hadir to 17.5 years in prison and ordered him to pay 30,000 NIS in compensation to Ohad Hertz, the victim of a stabbing at the Ariel Junction on October 25, 2015. Hertz who was injured in his upper body and his face, spoke in court and directed his words at the terrorist: “You represent murder, cruelty, hate and evilness. I am alive. I have won!”
Military Judges Lieutenant Colonel Avishag Agami Mordechai, presiding judge, Lieutenant Colonel Samzar Shagog and Lieutenant Colonel Vered Orenstein imposed the penalty, according to a plea bargain signed between the terrorist and the Military Advocate General’s office.
In mid-November, at the deliberation at which arguments for the penalty were heard, Hertz who has been physically disabled by the attack, chose to speak before the court in the presence of the terrorist. In his speech Hertz described the terrorist’s choice of a knife as the weapon with which he carried out the attack, “the results of which you could see immediately. You could see a man wallowing in his own blood, hear his shouts, look in his eyes. I am not certain that wild animals are capable of such cruelty.”
Hertz turned directly to the terrorist and said, “You injured me, moderate to serious, I was hospitalized and I will remain disabled for my entire life. However the story is not over here. It has just begun. Since you attempted to lower me I have only risen. On the same day that you stabbed me I was returning from a first date with a girl who is my wife today. We have a son. We have a home. I began and completed a master’s degree, I work in education and I educate youths to care and to be compassionate, the exact opposite of what you represent.”
Additionally Hertz stressed to the terrorist that, “You wanted to destroy, to sow destruction, to see blood, to ‘feel like a man’, and in the end you lost the battle. You came out as a nothing, a coward. You fled like a rabbit at the end of the struggle between us. Instead of destroying you helped build. Instead of killing you gave me the opportunity to rebuild my life, disabled, but alive and happier than ever.”
Hertz concluded his speech by stating that, “I am part of Am Yisrael, the Eternal People. My aspiration is to rectify the world, the exact opposite of what you represent – murder, cruelty, hate and evilness. I defeated you. I am alive! Am Yisrael Chai!”
The attack occurred on October 25, 2015, when Hertz, a paratrooper who fought in Operation Protective Edge, was standing at the hitch-hiking stop at the Ariel Junction. The indictment states that on that day the terrorist decided to carry out a stabbing attack “with the intent to cause the death of an Israeli citizen by means of a knife with an 11 centimeter long blade.” The terrorist hid the knife under his clothing and proceeded to the Ariel Junction where he noticed Hertz and decided to stab him to death.
The indictment describes how the terrorist threw Hertz to the ground and stabbed him, ignoring his shouts and his attempts to defend himself. After the terrorist saw that Hertz was attempting to rise to his feet and extricate himself, he fled. Hertz was rushed to the hospital suffering from stab wounds to his upper body and right hand and injuries to his face. “The aforementioned acts indicate that the defendant attempted to intentionally cause the death of Ohad,” stated the indictment.
Honenu Attorney Chayim Bleicher, who is assisting Hertz in realizing his rights as a victim of terror, stated that, “In the verdict of 17.5 years active sentence in addition to 30,000 NIS in compensation for a victim of terror, which has already been paid to the court, there is an important message of an increased penalty along with payment which is in fact paid by the terrorist to the injured party. Thus the terrorist, whose aim was to murder the victim because he is a Jew, did not only not achieve his goal, but was forced to pay out of his own pocket.
“These results are thanks to involvement of victims of terror and their demand not to hand down reduced sentences to terrorists, even in a plea bargain. We welcome the verdict and thank the military prosecutors for their work. We are still at the beginning and will continue to work together with victims of terror and representatives of the public to raise the standard of penalization to the point where a terrorist who tries to kill a Jew will never see the light of day,” concluded Bleicher.