5-Year Prison Sentences for Defendants in "Guardian of the Walls" Riots

Be’er Sheva District Court Judge Alon Gavizon today (Sunday) sentenced Ziad Abu Aish, Yosef Badr, Zacharia Altsana, and Baker Obeid, residents of the Bedouin diaspora in the Negev, to five years in prison. They were convicted on plea agreements of offenses including throwing stones at vehicles, intentional damage motivated by racism, and rioting, for their part in the unrest that took place during Operation "Guardian of the Walls."

According to the amended indictments filed by the Southern District Prosecutor’s Office, to which the defendants admitted, on the night between May 10 and 11, 2021, the defendants joined dozens of other rioters and blocked Route 6 near Lakiya using burning tires.

They later threw stones at vehicles identified as cars carrying Jewish passengers, while shouting "Jew, Jew." In one case, a woman driver who became trapped at the scene was rescued after the mob pelted her car with stones, and the car was later set on fire and burned. In another case, a Thai citizen who was "suspected of being Jewish" was attacked, and in a separate incident, another driver’s car was stoned until he was injured and evacuated from the scene.

As part of the sentencing arguments, the prosecution asked the court to impose substantial prison terms on the defendants and stressed that they had taken an active part in violent rioting driven by nationalist motives, and that the acts, carried out in the midst of Operation "Guardian of the Walls," severely harmed public safety.

The prosecution added that "these were violent, large-scale, and unprecedented disturbances that damaged the sense of personal security, national resilience, and the fabric of shared life between the state’s Jewish citizens and the state’s Arab citizens, and even required the diversion of security forces from fighting the external enemy to dealing with an internal enemy, from among residents of the state who live within it. Residents who owe the state a duty of loyalty and who should, at the very least, express solidarity and mutual responsibility when the state’s enemies outside are attacking it."

In its ruling, the court held that violent nationalist rioting requires a harsh and deterrent punitive response. Judge Gavizon stated, "I would add that violent rioting, all the more so when motivated by nationalist ideology, is like a fire in a field of thorns that is often impossible to control ... Moreover, a riot such as this has the power to ignite further unrest across the country."

"For that reason, the court must send a deterrent, firm, and intolerant message toward those who commit offenses such as these, so that 'they shall see and fear,' through punishment in the form of lengthy prison sentences behind bars."

Each of the four defendants was sentenced to five years in prison. In addition, suspended sentences were imposed, along with a fine of 10,000 shekels and compensation to the complainants in the amount of 7,000 shekels.