Palestinian handed 30-month sentence for trying to sell illegally obtained lion cub

A Palestinian man found guilty of attempting to sell a lion cub was sentenced to 30 months in prison by an Israeli military court in the West Bank on Tuesday.

The man was indicted last April by the Nature and Parks Authority and was accused of purchasing the lion cub and holding it captive in his yard while attempting to find a potential buyer for it. He was also indicted for owning an illegally obtained M-16 rifle.

The 30-month sentence was handed down by the Judea Military Court as part of a plea deal requiring the defendant to plead guilty to all offenses, the Ynet news outlet reported. He was also ordered to pay a NIS 5,000 fine.

WhatsApp conversations found on the phone of the defendant showed that he had been trying to sell the lion cub for NIS 50,000, according to Ynet. He had also offered to sell other illegally obtained animals to interested parties, including a tiger and monkeys.

The report noted that law enforcement efforts to locate the lion cub were unsuccessful, and none of the other animals he claimed to have had in his possession were found.

The chief prosecutor of the Nature and Parks Authority, attorney Shai Peretz, welcomed the military court’s verdict and called it a “clear and unequivocal message…against illegally possessing and harming wild animals.”

In March 2025, the Israel Police launched a weeks-long operation to bring down an exotic animal trafficking ring, which law enforcement believed involved monkeys and lion cubs being smuggled into Israel from Egypt and Jordan by drone.

The operation was launched after a video went viral of people driving in the Negev with a monkey chained to the car dashboard and a lion cub in a passenger’s lap.

Days later, they succeeded in rescuing the lion cub from the Bedouin town of Bir Hadaj and two monkeys from nearby Tel Sheva, although one of the monkeys later died of tetanus due to the harsh conditions it was held in. A second cub was later found in central Israel.

Police who tracked down the cubs apparently found drones in nearly every home they searched in Bir Hadaj, leading them to believe that the animals were spirited into the country by drone, according to a Channel 12 report.

Subsequent raids led to the discovery of at least eight more monkeys and five more lion cubs, including one that was found wandering in an open area of Kafr Qasim.

All six of the recovered lion cubs were transferred to an animal shelter in the Kiryat Motzkin Zoo.

Charlie Summers contributed to this report.