Israeli sentenced to 15 years for 2004 slaying of Palestinian taxi driver
Yehoshua Elitzur, who fled country after his conviction and was later extradited from Brazil, also to pay victim’s family NIS 200,000
Michael Bachner is a news editor at The Times of Israel
An Israeli citizen who was convicted in the 2004 killing of a Palestinian taxi driver was sentenced Wednesday to 15 years in prison, with a judge rejecting his self-defense claim and saying he had “suspected that any non-Jew is a potential terrorist.”
Yehoshua Elitzur, 46, fled the country in 2005 after he was convicted of manslaughter, and was extradited from Brazil in January.
The Tel Aviv District Court also ruled that Elitzur will pay his victim’s family NIS 200,000 ($55,000) in reparations.
Elitzur, originally a German national who converted to Judaism and moved to Israel, was found guilty of manslaughter in the fatal shooting of Sael Jabara a-Shatiya in September 2004 near the West Bank city of Nablus.
The victim’s daughter, Yasmin a-Shatiya, said she was “very satisfied” with the sentence.
“I thank the judge and God and am very happy we got justice,” she said, according to Ynet. “I am very happy that the murderer of my father is going to jail for many years, to learn that the value of human life is very important.”
According to the indictment against him, Elitzur flagged down Shatiya, 46. Armed with an M-16, Elitzur demanded the Palestinian halt and exit the vehicle.
Poor road conditions prevented Shatiya from pulling over where Elitzur demanded, and he continued driving and began to pull over further down the road, at which point Elitzur shot and killed him.
Elitzur claimed that he had acted in self-defense and that Shatiya was trying to run him off the road, but witnesses at the scene denied this claim.
Judge Zvi Gurfinkel wrote in his ruling that “the court ruled that the defendant shot the deceased without any reason, and after passengers asked to call for medical aid, he ignored it.”
“In light of the conclusive findings in the verdict, one cannot think the defendant was in danger or was mistaken to think he was,” he added. “This is a severe case of taking a human life without need and without purpose. He suspected that whoever isn’t Jewish is a potential terrorist.”
Elitzur was initially accused of murder, but was convicted of manslaughter after prosecutors couldn’t prove he had intended to kill Shatiya.
He was placed under house arrest in the Itamar settlement prior to a court hearing on his sentence, but managed to flee the country — first to Germany and later to Brazil.
After a decade-long manhunt, he was captured by Interpol and Sao Paulo authorities in June 2015. Brazilian media reported that Elitzur had entered the country using false identification papers.
Elitzur apologized to the victim’s family earlier this year, but added that he has “no doubt” he was in mortal danger.
“Nevertheless, I understand that from a human point of view it is a great loss for the family,” he said. “It is a dangerous place and many things can happen there.”
Jacob Magid and AFP contributed to this report.
