Price tag perpetrators sentenced to unprecedented 30 months in prison

Until recently, those committing price tag attacks were often not even arrested or indicted.

By YONAH JEREMY BOB
Price tag attack in Dora al-Kara (photo credit: JERUSALEM POLICE)
Price tag attack in Dora al-Kara
(photo credit: JERUSALEM POLICE)
The Lod District Court endorsed a plea bargain sentencing two men to an unprecedented 30 months in prison for a “price-tag” attack involving arson of Palestinian cars motivated by racism in November 2013.
The sentence against the two, Yehuda Landsberg and Yehuda Savir of the Gilad Farm outpost, also included a 12-month suspended sentence that kicks in if they commit a similar offense in the next three years and compensatory damages of NIS 15,000 each.
Until recently, those committing similar attacks were often not even arrested or indicted.
In those cases where they were indicted the sentences were exceedingly lenient.
In one glaring example, in June 2013, a group of right-wing activists who had set up a “war room” to effectively spy on IDF movements in the West Bank to prevent and frustrate military actions to demolish or curtail illegal Jewish-built structures was sentenced to community service.
But the court and the prosecution, comparatively, threw the book at the two, with Judge Dvora Atar stating “without a plea bargain the punishment would have been far more severe,” in order to send an “unambiguous message” and to “deter” future occurrences.
The indictment had stated that the two, along with a third man, Binyamin Richter, had set on fire multiple Palestinian cars in Far’ata.
The case was also unusual as it was part of a new line of cases where “price-tag” attackers have been treated as being part of an illegal organization that the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) can question and hold for more extended periods than police.
The prosecution said that it would continue fighting an uncompromising battle against racism-based crimes.
It added, “the court adopted the factors weighed by the prosecution according to which it should deter and deal harshly with crimes of this kind by imposing extended prison sentences,” while also recognizing that the defendants confessed and expressed regret early on as well as testified against one of their partners, presumably Richter.


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