Sigal and Tahal Sofer
Sigal and Tahal SoferHagit Yosfi

The Ofer military court sentenced Khaled Odeh Muhammad Badha to 16 years in prison for throwing a Molotov cocktail at the Sofer family's car, severely burning then-three-year-old Tahal.

As part of a plea bargain, the terrorist will pay compensation of NIS 10,000 to the family he attacked.

In their decision, the judges mentioned the statement made by Sigal Sofer, Tahal's mother, during the trial: "With tears in her eyes, Mrs. Sofer asked to relate to an event that shook her family and the repercussions of which they are still facing today. "My stomach is turning upside down only from the thought of going back and telling about the difficult event in our lives. An attack occurred that has turned and shook the normal routine of our lives, and now we come to return and stand before evil again."

"The Molotov cocktails entered the car window in the back and fell on the chair where three-year-old Tahal sat. In seconds everything began to burn, the fire burned her little body from top to bottom. Tahal screamed and cried together with her brothers. We were in a huge panic and couldn't stop the vehicle. The whole family has been traumatized by this attack. The smallest of our family is going through a terrible nightmare and there is not much that can be done to ease it."

The judges wrote that "the offenses in which the defendant was convicted, in the center of which are attempting to cause death intentionally, and are among the most serious offenses under the law. In his actions, which miraculously did not sever the lives of entire members of the family, the defendant struck a barrage of lofty values, first and foremost the value of the sanctity of life, which is the supreme value of any civilized society."

Attorney Haim Bleicher of the Honenu legal organization, which represented the Sofer famil, stated that "the struggle against Islamic terrorism requires increased deterrence and continued punishment, along with additional deterrent measures. There is no doubt that the involvement of the victims of hostilities in the process leads to the consequences of aggravation even when the file was finally closed in a plea bargain. As Sigal said in the discussion, we must be strict with the terrorist and we intend to continue to act so that those who try to murder us will never see the light of the sun again."