In reversal, army prosecutor says prison guard’s murder motivated by terror
Indictment says motive was Yochai Avni being Jewish; suspect Ibrahim Mansour claims killing was robbery gone wrong; report says terror charge added after he failed polygraph
A Palestinian man who was charged with murdering an Israel Prison Service (IPS) employee was additionally indicted for terrorism-motivated murder on Tuesday, more than a month after the military prosecutor said it was not terrorism, according to Hebrew media reports.
Police arrested Ibrahim Mansour in early July after Yochai Avni was found murdered in his home in the Givon Hahadasha settlement near Jerusalem, with investigators initially saying the murder had not been motivated by nationalist sentiment.
But the indictment, which was filed on Tuesday, showed that a terrorism charge had been added. According to the indictment, “the defendant decided to kill the victim and attacked him with severe cruelty because he was Jewish, and to cause him to die.”
In his interrogation, Mansour told investigators that the murder was a result of a robbery gone wrong, but the terrorism charge was added to the indictment after a polygraph test determined he was lying when he said he hadn’t planned the murder ahead of time, according to the Ynet news site.
Polygraphs, or lie detector tests, are controversial in that they are believed by many scientists to produce unreliable results, and they are generally inadmissible in Israeli courts.
According to the indictment, Mansour had attempted and failed to break into multiple homes in the settlement on July 7 before successfully breaking into Avni’s house through the window. Avni was woken by Mansour’s presence in the house and a struggle broke out in which, the indictment said, Mansour hit Avni with a vase and a chair and stabbed him 66 times with multiple knives.
Mansour then allegedly stole several items and attempted to set the house on fire before fleeing, but the fire went out on its own. He later burned the stolen items while fleeing.
If convicted of terrorism, Mansour would face a harsher punishment, and his family in the West Bank could potentially face consequences such as home demolition or restrictions entering Israel, that would not be applicable under a criminal murder conviction.
Following the filing of the indictment on Tuesday, the judge ruled Mansour would be held in custody until at least September 11.
Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir praised the addition of the terrorism charge in the indictment on Tuesday.
“Better late than never – I welcome the prosecution’s decision this morning after 51 days that Yochai Avni’s murder was a nationalist murder and not a criminal one, as they mistakenly believed in the beginning,” he said.
He added that pressure from the IPS chief, the family, and himself contributed to the extra charge.
“I embrace the guard’s family and friends at this difficult time. The National Security Ministry will continue to support them forever,” he said.
Ynet quoted Yochai’s sister, Nitzan, as saying after the hearing that “we are sure justice is with us,” adding that it was an “unbearable struggle that cost us dearly” to get the terrorism charge added to the indictment.
Emanuel Fabian contributed to this report.
