Yosef Atia
Yosef AtiaIsrael news photo: file

An IDF appeals court has rejected a plea filed by Riyadh Arafat, a Hamas terrorist who planned an attack in which two soldiers were murdered and several people wounded. Arafat had appealed his conviction and his punishment – two consecutive life sentences plus 30 years.

Arafat was convicted of initiating and planning a 2005 shooting attack in which soldiers Yosef Atiah and Ariel Boda were murdered and four other people were wounded. He suggested the attack, recruited terrorists to carry out the shooting, and selected the scene of the crime.

The shooters dressed in IDF uniforms and signaled a car to stop, then opened fire. After killing Atiah and Boda, they went on to fire at a second vehicle.

Arafat was also convicted for taking part in a 2007 shooting attack near Ariel in which one person was badly wounded.

In its verdict rejecting Arafat's appeal, the court noted that the terrorist attacks he plotted involved shooting “from short range, in a manner that left [the victims] no chance to respond or to escape.” His behavior clearly shows “that he did everything he could to cause the deaths of as many Israelis as possible.”

One of the shooters who worked with Arafat, Hamas terrorist Suhil Koka, was given two life sentences in prison in March of this year. Koka did not express remorse for his actions, and in his statement to the court said, “I do not recognize this court, and I do not recognize the state of Israel, and if there is anything I regret, it is that I killed only two soldiers and not more.”

Kuka implied that he would not be required to serve his full sentence. “Hamas and the Al Kassam Brigades will not forget their sons in jail, and Gilad Shalit is only the beginning,” he said, referring to Hamas' demand that Israel release over 1,000 imprisoned terrorists in exchange for the freedom of kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit.