In reversal, Defense Ministry says man killed in 2015 was a terror victim

The Defense Ministry on Tuesday declared that an Israeli man beaten to death two years ago was a victim of terror, reversing two previous decisions that did not grant such recognition.

David Bar-Kapara, a resident of Rehovot, was fatally beaten near Pedaya, a village in ventral Israel, in 2015 by two West Bank Palestinian cousins.

Police and the Shin Bet security service determined that the cousins set out to rob Bar-Kapara because they believed he was wealthy, but his family has always insisted it was a terror attack. Bar-Kapara’s recognition as a terror victim means his family will be eligible for benefits.

In a statement on Tuesday, the body responsible for determining whether an individual is a terror victim stated that the decision was made on the basis of findings revealed in the course of the convictions of the two men that showed “the accused resorted to exceptional and cruel violence against the deceased.”

On that basis, the authority decided to reverse its decision and determine there is a reasonable basis to recognize Bar-Kapara as a victim of hostile acts, the ministry said in a statement.

The statement noted that Bar-Kapara’s family had made two prior appeals for him to be declared a terror victim, which were rejected.

Last September Mujahad Dar Asi, 25, was convicted of the killing of 70-year-old Bar-Kapara, his former employer.

In August, the court found his cousin Alaa Dar Asi guilty of manslaughter for taking part in the killing, and sentenced him to 18 years behind bars. Prosecutors agreed to downgrade Alaa’s charges from murder after authorities determined that the cousins had attacked Bar-Kapara while trying to rob him, and did not intend to kill him in a terror attack.

The cousins were from the Hebron-area village of Beit Lakiya and were illegally in Israel at the time of the killing.

According to the indictment filed against the Dar Asi cousins, on the morning of June 24, 2015, the Asi cousins confronted Bar-Kapara on his property near Pedaya, and demanded he hand over money, under the assumption that the vineyard owner was carrying large amounts of cash.

When they realized Bar-Kapara had no money, the pair beat him badly. Farmers who witnessed the attack called police and paramedics, and Bar-Kapara was rushed to a nearby hospital with serious injuries, but died several hours later.