In the video: The Balfour Pub in Nahariya was blown up and completely destroyed - at the end of three years all four defendants were acquitted (Walla system!)
Three years after the Balfour pub in Nahariya was completely destroyed, four of the accused in its explosion were acquitted.
There are no other suspects.
This affair will probably remain unsolved.
This is a severe blow to the owners, to the police who investigated and arrested the four, and to the prosecutor's office, which was convinced of the chances of their conviction.
The popular pub that was destroyed, was partially insured, it was closed and never again operated.
The incident occurred early in the morning on November 18, 2019. A large explosive device was activated remotely and exploded, causing extensive damage and luckily not ending in the death of a passerby.
About half an hour before the explosion, at approximately 03:06, a car with stolen license plates stopped.
An unknown person got off it and acted quickly.
He entered the pub after smashing a glass in front of it, left the luggage inside and a minute later, already left in a car that quickly left the streets.
According to security camera footage, exactly 5 minutes before the vehicle stopped near the pub, another vehicle passed by and was then recorded parked in front of the "Aroma" cafe.
According to the facts of the indictment, two of the accused stayed in the cafe for about half an hour, then left it in a car and when they passed by the Balfour pub again, the explosion occurred.
The vehicle continued its journey, it also left the tunnels and turned east at the Acre junction.
The central unit of the Coastal District investigated the incident and arrested four young men.
Udi Bisan, 31 years old from Jat, was arrested first, at his home, and the other three, Obeid Arkan, 30 years old from Sajur, Sam Abu Dola, 27 years old from Rakha, and Rabia Bisan, 27 years old from Jat, were found hiding in a B&B in Moshav Shazor, who was organized by a young man suspected of an incident in a pub and his brother, without their mobile phones.
In their investigation, they maintained their right to remain silent and according to them, on the advice of their advocate, the lawyer Bassel Falah.
Balfour Pub in Nahariya (photo: official website, no)
The prosecution claimed that it was four friends, that the vehicle used to dump the cargo was registered in the name of Obeid Arkan, that it was Sam Abu Doulah and Rabia Bisan who activated the cargo while traveling in the other vehicle, and that Saudi Bisan was part of the plot and followed the events from afar.
According to the claim, it was revenge for a previous incident that happened in the pub four months earlier and the owner's complaint to the police, that he was attacked by partygoers whom he refused to let in.
At the end of the trial that was conducted in the District Court in Haifa, Judge Erez Porat noted that the defendants "did not provide a reliable and logical version that would dispel the cloud of suspicion over their heads", and mentioned that "the silence of an accused in an investigation strengthens the prosecution's evidence, so does elusive testimony on the stand".
However, he stated that he could not determine that the previous incident was the motive for placing an explosive device and destroying the Balfour pub four months later, "a reaction that seems to be grossly disproportionate", in his words.
Beyond that, he points out that no evidentiary response was given to the identity of the passengers in the vehicles and that the crimes cannot be attributed to the four based on the circumstantial evidence presented.
The Balfour Pub is located on a main street in the city of Nahariya and is not an abandoned place, remembers Judge Porat, "there can be an innocent or not-so-innocent explanation for the presence of the accused in the vicinity."
He points out that their presence at the scene is suspicious and that the explanation given in retrospect was far from satisfactory, but he accepted the argument of the defense attorney, Advocate Bassel Falah, "that according to the experts' opinion, the charge could have been activated from countless places - parked vehicles, windows, balconies, roofs , maybe even from the living room in nearby buildings" and states that "the possibility was not hidden because their presence was innocent." He acquitted the four, due to doubt.
"A brave and reasoned decision," says attorney Bassel Falah, who represented the four, referring to the four, "even though the police collected all the security cameras in Nahariya and almost all of the north, the holes in the police's version and the attempts of the witnesses to fill them failed and the evidence cannot be connected to the picture that the prosecution tried to present." He added, "I hope that the investigative bodies will study the judge's decision and will not file such cases in the future.
The accused are innocent of any crime, that's how it was determined and that's the truth.
Now it is the duty of the police to look for the real culprits in the act and must apologize to the accused for the injustice done to them."
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