7 Arab men jailed for 12-14 years for role in death of Jewish man in 2021 Lod riots
Family of Yigal Yehoshua, who died after being hit in the head by a brick when a mob stoned his car, will ask state prosecutor to seek a harsher sentence, lawyer says
The Lod District Court on Sunday sentenced seven men to between 12 and 14 years in prison for their role in the death of Yigal Yehoshua in 2021 during a riot that took place during a short war in Gaza that year.
The 56-year-old victim’s family demanded a harsher sentencing and will ask the State Prosecutor’s Office to appeal the ruling.
The seven men sentenced are five Lod residents — and Israeli citizens — Yusef al-Qadhayim, 21; Walid al-Qadhayim, 25; Karim Bahlul, 18; Iyad Marahla, 20; and Haled Hassouna, 51; along with two West Bank residents, Ahmad Danun, 25; and Kamel Deif Alla, 21, who were in Israel illegally at the time. The ages given are their ages at the time of the crime.
The seven were convicted in May this year on charges of causing injury with terrorist motivations and other crimes for their role in pelting Yehoshua’s car with rocks, bricks and other objects as the 56-year-old made his way home in Lod in May 2021. Yehoshua, who was hit in the head by a brick, was seriously injured and later succumbed to his wounds.
Like other mixed Jewish-Arab cities, Lod, just south of Tel Aviv, saw a series of violent inter-communal disturbances that month following the May 10 outbreak of a conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
The seven men who were sentenced to prison on Sunday were originally charged with causing Yehoshua’s death, but due to “significant evidentiary problems” were convicted on the lesser charges in a plea bargain.
In handing down the sentences, the Lod court said the Arab assailants had been “triggered” by a rock-throwing incident committed by Jewish rioters in the city prior to the fatal attack on Yehoshua, and that they had not acted in a premeditated manner.
However, the court found that the attack on Yehoshua was carried out with “nationalistic motivations and as an act of terrorism.”
Alongside the prison sentences, the court awarded Yehoshua’s family NIS 900,000 ($268,000) in compensation from the attackers.
The Ynet news site reported that people in the courtroom yelled out “not enough” when the sentence was read.
Irina Yehoshua, the victim’s widow, was quoted by Ynet as saying, “On the one hand I’m happy that it’s over… but unfortunately, the sentence handed down today is not enough, and our feeling is that the court was lenient with the murderers.”
Tami Kalenberg-Levi, who Ynet said is representing the family on behalf of the governmental legal aid agency, told the news site that the family would request that the State Prosecutor’s Office appeal the ruling.
“This is not the punishment they were expecting,” she said.
The May 2021 riots and war came after Israel moved to evict some 70 Palestinians from the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in East Jerusalem, to be replaced by right-wing Jewish Israelis.
Israel also placed restrictions on gatherings at Jerusalem’s Damascus Gate and Al-Aqsa Mosque, leading to further tensions and threats by both Hamas and its secularist rival faction Fatah.
In response to a large missile barrage from Gaza on May 10, Israel launched an airstrike campaign, Operation Guardian of the Walls, in the Strip. The operation lasted 11 days.