2005 attack on Netanya shopping mall killed 5 people; convicts get 13 years.
By JPOST.COM STAFFnetanya bombing 298.88(photo credit: )
The Tel Aviv District Court on Thursday sentenced three Israelis to 13 years in prison for having transported a suicide bomber who blew himself up outside Netanya's Sharon Mall in July 2005. Five were killed in the attack and more than 90 wounded.
During the sentencing relatives of the men hurled accusations at the court and an altercation broke out between them and photographers.
The fracas forced Judge Oded Mudrik to leave the courtroom before he was able to finish reading the sentence.
The three, Ramat Gan resident Kfir Levy, 26, Taiba resident Shani Saif Azzam, 35, and Abd Abu Mukh, 30, of Baka al-Gharbiya, were convicted in March of manslaughter and on 30 counts of causing serious injury.
Mudrik ruled that the three had suspected that their passenger was a terrorist but did nothing about it. Instead, they were satisfied when the bomber showed them tools in his bag, which he said were to be used for stealing cars. They were paid NIS 1,000 each for transporting the bomber, five times the usual fare for the journey.
Mudrik also ruled that Mukh knew that the man was a suicide bomber.
Prosecutor Orli Ben-Ari asked the court to hand down harsh sentences to the three to "highlight the severity of their actions." Ben-Ari also asked the court to rule that their assets be expropriated and their drivers' licenses revoked.
