Barkan terrorist’s brother given 1-year sentence for not stopping fatal attack

Ashraf Na’alowa killed 2 in October 2018 West Bank shooting; squabble breaks out between victim’s family and defense attorneys in courtroom

By Judah Ari Gross 7 August 2019, 6:58 pm

Edit

Judah Ari Gross is The Times of Israel's religions and Diaspora affairs correspondent.

A scuffle breaks out outside the Samaria Military Court in the northern West Bank on August 7, 2019, after Amjad Na'alowa is convicted of failing to prevent his brother Ashraf's deadly terror attack in the Barkan Industrial Park last year. (Screenshot)

The brother of a Palestinian terrorist who murdered two Israelis at the Barkan Industrial Park in the northern West Bank in October was sentenced to one year in prison on Wednesday for failing to prevent the brutal attack.

Following the sentencing hearing, a small scuffle erupted between the family of one of the victims and defense attorneys in the West Bank military courtroom. Video from the scene showed that soldiers were called in to prevent the altercation from escalating.

On October 7, Ashraf Na’alowa, an electrician who worked at a factory in the Barkan Industrial Park, came into work armed with a gun and took hostage several of his co-workers, tying up Kim Levengrond Yehezkel.

During the attack, he shot and killed Yehezkel, 29, and Ziv Hajbi, 35. Another Israeli woman was also seriously injured.

Ashraf evaded capture for two months, until he was shot dead in a December 13 raid in Nablus by an elite Israeli counterterrorism unit. The Shin Bet security service has said Na’alowa, from the West Bank village of Shuweika near Tulkarem, appeared to have been planning a second terror attack.

Ashraf Na’alowa, the Palestinian man who carried out a deadly terror attack on October 7, 2018 in the Barkan Industrial Park in the northern West Bank. (Courtesy)

Earlier this year, Amjad Na’alowa was convicted by the Samaria Military Court of being aware of plans by his brother Ashraf to carry out a terror attack and not taking steps to stop him or inform Palestinian or Israeli security agencies.

In May, Na’alowa’s mother Wafa was convicted on similar charges.

Amjad Na’alowa will likely be released in approximately two months, having spent the last 10 months behind bars.

Kim Levengrond Yehezkel, 29 (left), and Ziv Hajbi, 35, who were killed in a terror shooting in the Barkan Industrial Park in the West Bank, October 7, 2018 (screenshots: Facebook)

During the hearing on Wednesday, the family of Yehezkel railed against the judge for what they believed to be a light sentence.

“He killed my daughter, he’s a liar,” Yehezkel’s mother shouted.

Attorneys from the right-wing Honenu legal defense organization, which is representing the Yehezkel family, said a Palestinian defense lawyer began arguing with the family and was briefly escorted out of the courtroom.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.