The Supreme Court has increased the punishment of a terrorist who participated in a lynch attack on a Jewish family during the 2021 Operation Guardian of the Walls.
The terrorist will now serve 36 months in prison, instead of the 18 he had originally been sentenced to by the Haifa District Court.
According to the indictment, the Jewish family took a wrong turn and accidentally entered an Arab village, where they were attacked by dozens of rock-throwing Arabs. The rioters succeeded in blocking the family from escaping, and then climbed onto the vehicle's roof, smashed the windows, and attempted to remove the family from the vehicle.
The mother protected her children with her own body, absorbing blows and rocks, including an enormous boulder thrown at her face from close range, which hit her. It was only after a lengthy period of time that the family was rescued from the lynch and taken for medical treatment.
Attorney Haim Bleicher of Honenu, who is representing the family, responded: "The Supreme Court justices decided that the district judge erred in his extremely light sentence, despite the severity of the acts of terror which that terrorist committed. The Supreme Court judges doubled the terrorist's punishment, which now stands at three years in prison, and noted in their decision that this punishment does not represent the full measure of justice for that terrorist, as is customary in an appeal of this type."
"We hope that this sentence will mark a cornerstone in the understanding of the need to increase the severity of the sentences handed to terrorists who wish to harm Jews, and thus increase security for all citizens of Israel."