Border Police light candles for Hadas Malka
Border Police light candles for Hadas MalkaFlash 90

Jerusalem Magistrate's Court Judge Shmuel Herbst today sentenced an Israeli Arab and a PA Arab convicted of transporting the terrorists who murdered Hadas Malka.

Hadas Malka was a Border Police fighter and was murdered in the serious attack near the Damascus Gate about 9 months ago. Three Muslims armed with knives and rifles attacked two different locations in Jerusalem, killing Hadas and injuring four others.

Hani Dari was sentenced to 14 months in prison and Muhammed Hamdan was sentenced to 16 months in prison after being convicted in a plea bargain for causing death by negligence and for transporting illegal aliens under aggravated circumstances. The two men were also sentenced to suspended prison terms and monetary compensation to the Malka family.

רס"ר הדס מלכא
רס"ר הדס מלכאצילום: משמר הגבול

According to the indictment, the two drove a bus from the Ramallah area to Jerusalem containing about 50 passengers, including some illegal residents and the three terrorists. The two drove the passengers through the Dead Sea, Arad, and Highway 6, to make it difficult for security forces to prevent illegal entry into Israel.

In his decision the judge noted the upcoming Memorial Day, "I can only ask that the Malka family be comforted from heaven and that they will no longer know sorrow and pain. So to them, and so to all victims of terror whose national Memorial Day will be in a few hours' time."

In addition, the judge cited the words of Hadas' father that were submitted to the court both in the letter he transmitted to the judge and in the words that the father David said during a sentencing hearing that took place a few days ago: "Perhaps this punishment will lead to a clear and unequivocal message to those who assist and to the second circle of terror, that also they have the responsibility to act and to think reasonably - no more and no less."

Attorney Chaim Bleicher of the Honenu legal aid organization accompanying the Malka family in court hearings and assisting them in realizing their rights as terror victims said: "We welcome the verdict directed at the second circle of terror. The defendants, in their criminal acts, even if out of indifference to the dangerous results, allowed the terrorists to carry out their plot, and therefore they must be severely punished. The war on Islamic terrorism also requires war in the vicinity of the tumor.

"On the eve of Memorial Day for the IDF fallen and victims of hostilities, we must praise those who, by circumstance, were thrust into the role of 'public emissaries'; terror victims who are accompanied by Honenu organization that takes a significant part in the legal process against terrorists and their accomplices, thereby strengthening the legal system by taking punitive measures that will deter and help eradicate terrorism," he added.