Two men from Bat Yam were indicted on Thursday for allegedly repeatedly throwing a fragmentation grenade at a Japanika restaurant until it exploded while an employee was inside, in Kiryat Ono.
The July 13 attack came amid a wave of grenade, gunfire, and arson attacks on branches of the restaurant chain that police have investigated against the backdrop of an organized-crime dispute.
However, the indictment does not allege a motive or connect either defendant to a crime organization, and prosecutors said the reason for the attack remained unknown.
The Tel Aviv District Attorney’s Office filed the indictment against Netanel Aboudi, 22, and Nehorai Habaz, 18, with the Tel Aviv District Court.
Police believe Japanika attacks part of larger crime family dispute
They were charged with aggravated assault with intent to cause serious harm, damaging property with an explosive, and unlawfully carrying and transporting a weapon, all committed jointly. Aboudi was also charged with obstruction of justice.
According to the indictment, the two planned the attack shortly before 1 a.m. and traveled from Bat Yam to HaBosem Street in Tel Aviv, where they allegedly collected an electric bike and a potentially fatal fragmentation grenade.
They then rode to the restaurant on HaKirya HaAkademit Street in Kiryat Ono while wearing black hooded sweatshirts intended to conceal their identities, prosecutors said.
They arrived shortly after 2 a.m., when the restaurant was lit, and an employee was working inside. Two other people were nearby.
The indictment alleges that the two stopped outside the restaurant and alternated in throwing the grenade toward its storefront. When it repeatedly failed to explode, they picked it up and tried again.
On the final attempt, the grenade struck a sign near the restaurant and exploded. The two then allegedly fled on the electric bike.
No injuries were reported. Prosecutors estimated the damage to the restaurant at approximately NIS 78,700 and the damage to neighboring storefronts at a further NIS 51,300.
In their request to keep the two detained, prosecutors said the evidence included security-camera footage allegedly tracing their movements from their homes to the restaurant and back, phone-location data, testimony from taxi drivers, and clothing seized from their homes.
The state also said Habaz’s DNA was found on the grenade lever recovered at the scene. Prosecutors further cited intercepted conversations in which Aboudi allegedly referred to Habaz as his “partner” and said he had been arrested over a “throwing.”
The obstruction charge against Aboudi concerns his conduct during his arrest on July 21. According to the indictment, police seized his phone while it was unlocked and placed it on the front seat of a patrol car. Aboudi, who was seated in the back, allegedly leaned forward and locked it to prevent investigators from accessing its contents.
Prosecutors argued that the planning involved, the attempt to conceal their identities, and their persistence in throwing the grenade despite the presence of an employee demonstrated that the two posed a continuing danger.
The state said both initially gave accounts that were contradicted by the evidence and later exercised their right to remain silent. It argued that the still-unknown motive for the alleged attack heightened the concern posed by their release.
The Kiryat Ono explosion was one of several attacks on Japanika branches in July. Restaurants in Ramat Gan, Givatayim, Afula, Netanya, Herzliya, and Rosh Pina were among those targeted with grenades, gunfire, explosives, or attempted arson.
Police have investigated the wider series of attacks as part of a violent dispute involving the Mosli and Jarushi crime organizations. Japanika owner Barak Abramov, who also owns Beitar Jerusalem, is not a suspect in the case.
Aboudi and Habaz were separately indicted in Nazareth earlier this week, together with 19-year-old Ibrahim Azbarga of Lod, over the alleged arson of the Magia event hall in Tiberias early on July 12 – one day before the Japanika attack.
In that case, prosecutors allege the three altered a vehicle’s license plate, broke into the hall, poured gasoline inside, and set it alight. Both cases remain pending.