The Haifa District Court has convicted Khabib abu Khabib for an act of terror and aggravated injury, attempt to harm spurred by racist motives, and rioting, after abu Khabib took part in the violence in the city of Akko (Acre) two years ago.
According to the indictment, during the May 2021 Operation Guardian of the Walls, abu Khabib participated in a lynch attack on a Jewish civilian in the city.
The court acquitted abu Khabib of committing an act of terror and attempted murder, after deciding that there is reasonable doubt as to whether he met the mental requirements for being convicted of attempted murder. At the same time, it was proven beyond any reasonable doubt that the accused's actions constitute a crime of aggravated injury.
Regarding the matter of an act of terror, Judge Yehiel Lifshitz wrote in the ruling: "The accused and other rioters like him are the ones who disrupted Israel Police's [attempt] to preserve order. In other words, the accused and those like him were the reason for the disorder and rioting; the cause, and not the effect. From this is is clear that when the accused went out to the street, he went out to battle, and this 'battle' was against the Jews who in his opinion had come to plot against Akko's Arab residents."
"This is someone who 'looks for trouble' and is not deterred by finding it again and again, versus the police forces and Jews, who he wished to clash with due to their Jewishness and not for any other reason."