Palestinian gets life, plus 30 years, for 2015 killing of Israeli
Hamas member Abdallah As’hak convicted for West Bank drive-by shooting that killed Malachy Rosenfeld, injured 3 others
The Ofer military court on Sunday sentenced a Palestinian man to life in prison and an additional 30 years for the killing of a Jewish man in a 2015 West Bank drive-by shooting.
Abdallah As’hak, of the West Bank village of Silwad, northeast of Ramallah, was also ordered to pay a NIS 325,000 ($85,000) fine for the terror attack in which Malachy Rosenfeld was murdered on June 29, 2015.
Rosenfeld, 25, was killed, and three others were wounded when Hamas terrorists opened fire on their car near the West Bank settlement of Shvut Rachel, north of Ramallah, as they returned home from a basketball game.
As’hak was found guilty of killing Rosenfeld, and the attempted killing of each of the three other Israelis injured in the shooting attack. His specific role in the fatal terror attack was not immediately clear.
In July 2015, security forces detained four members of a seven-strong Hamas cell behind the attack, the Shin Bet general security service said at the time. Two others were being held by the Palestinian Authority and the ringleader was said to be in Jordan.
The cell also carried out an attack on an ambulance close to the settlement of Beit El on June 27, 2015 in which no one was wounded. They had also attempted to carry out a separate attack on June 6. A month later, As’hak and another West Bank Palestinian, Faiz Ahmed, were indicted for the slaying.
The Shin Bet said at the time that the seventh man, Ahmad Najjar, who orchestrated and funded the shooting attack from Jordan, was among the prisoners released by Israel for captured Israel Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit in 2011. He has not been apprehended.
In 2015, Maath Hammad, who allegedly pulled the trigger, and another suspect were being held by the Palestinian Authority.
The killing became linked to an arson attack allegedly carried out by a Jewish extremist in a Palestinian village that killed three members of a family. The attacker, who was later arrested, said he carried out the firebombing of the Dawabsha family in Duma to avenge Rosenfeld’s death. The attack led to the immediate death of toddler Ali Saad Dawabsha. Parents Riham and Saad succumbed to their wounds in the hospital within weeks of the attack.
