The Be'er Sheva Magistrate's Court recently imposed prison sentences and significant fines on Meir Hajaj and Golan Jerbi.
The two were convicted, in accordance with their confession, for crimes of aggravated theft after they infiltrated the site where the Nova Music Festival was held and stole massacre victims' belongings.
From the amended indictment, filed by attorney Adar Bachar of the Southern District Prosecutor’s Office and in which the defendants confessed, a grim picture emerges: on October 8, 2023, just one day after the murderous terror attack in which at least 347 civilians and 17 police officers were killed at the festival site, Hajaj and Jerbi arrived at the site.
In her sentencing arguments, Bachar stressed the severity of the actions: "The circumstances of this case are unique and severe, and the actions of the defendants, who, one day after the worst disaster in the country's history, got together and stole property belonging to the victims of the Nova Festival, must be condemned. The defendants took advantage of the situation in the country at the time to carry out their plan."
Judge Amir Doron wrote: "The morning after October 7th, 2023, was one of the most difficult days in the country's history. The country experienced a planned spree of murder and destruction, which caused substantial damage to life and property, which was reflected in the various strata of Israeli society in general, and the victims of the massacre and their families in particular."
“The defendants failed in a disgraceful and particularly severe manner on the moral and ethical level. Through their actions, carried out together with one another, the defendants demonstrated a blatant trampling of every component of basic human compassion. The defendants stole equipment from the victims of the massacre, while the blood of those victims cried out from the ground before them. Driven by greed, the defendants chose to steal whatever they could lay their hands on, with particular emphasis on property of significant economic value."
“Stealing from the scene of a massacre is not only an injustice toward the victims; it is considered a ‘stain on our camp,’ eroding social trust and the sense of solidarity," he noted.
At the conclusion of the proceedings, the court sentenced each of the defendants to 38 months of actual imprisonment, a suspended sentence, and a monetary fine of 45,000 shekels.