The burning of two suites of a hotel in ancient Acre, May 11, 2021 (from the movie "The Writing on the Wall", "Real Time", here 11)
The District Court in Haifa today (Thursday) sentenced Fouad and Ahmed Madi, residents of Acre in their twenties, to five years and 45 months in prison, who set fire to the Effendi Hotel in the city about two years ago, and took part in riots in the city during Operation Wall Guard.
This is the sentence for the last two defendants out of the eight involved in the case.
The events took place on one of the nights of May 2021, when according to the indictment the two took part in riots in the city area - during which they threw stones at police officers, fired fireworks and caused a lot of damage to property in the area.
In addition to setting fire to the hotel, the accused Ahmed Madi also took part in setting fire to the "Uri Suri" restaurant, which belongs to the same owners.
During the event, among other things, the rioters looted the restaurant's property, stole NIS 20,000 - and then set it on fire.
The indictment indicates that the fire at the Effendi Hotel began after an unknown masked man smashed the glass door of the place with a stone - then poured a flammable substance on the floor.
After he lit a fire at the place, a fire broke out, and only then did Fouad Madi and other unknown persons whose identity has not been established to this day arrive at the place - equipped with Molotov cocktails.
As they were thrown, the flames increased.
Sentence for the young men who set fire to a hotel in Acre during Operation Guard of the Walls (Photo: Israel Police Spokesperson)
All this, while there were 20 guests in the hotel as well as a receptionist, who when the place was set on fire left their room and left the place.
Later, other defendants arrived, among them Ahmed Madi - and began wreaking more havoc on the place by breaking furniture, smashing the security cameras and looting property.
After they left, others entered the place and set it on fire, resulting in the death of the hotel guest Avi Har Evan, 84, who was on his way out.
Har Evan was the recipient of the Israel Defense Prize, one of the senior officials of the aerospace industry and director of the Israel Space Agency.
No one has yet been prosecuted for his death.
The defendants, 24-year-old Fouad Madi, who was also convicted of an act of terrorism, and 29-year-old Ahmed Madi, who also had a criminal record, confessed to what was attributed to them.
In addition to the prison sentence, Judge Daniel Fish determined that each of the defendants will pay the hotel owner compensation in the amount of NIS 20,000.
This, while the hotel suffered damage estimated at over two million shekels.
More in Walla!
The death of the recipient of the Israel Defense Award who was fatally injured in the fire at the hotel in Acre has been determined
To the full article
perished in arson.
Avi Har Even (photo: Walla! system, Tal Inbar)
"It is possible that there was a certain anger about the socio-economic situation - which led to the commission of the crimes"
Attorney Shahi Dabbah who represented the accused (photo: courtesy of the photographed, courtesy of the photographed)
The prison sentences handed down to the defendants are also light considering the crimes they committed for which the maximum sentence is 20 to 25 years in prison, in that other convicts in the case were sentenced to 33 to 48 months in prison, as well as considering the considerations of deterring the many from committing crimes on a nationalistic background.
"The Anti-Terrorism Law is intended to outline a stricter punishment policy for terrorist offenses," claimed the Haifa District Attorney's Office.
Each of the two defendants expressed remorse for his actions, and claimed that the actions were not typical of him.
The defense attorney for the defendants, lawyer Shadi Dabach, claimed before the two were sentenced that "it was a momentary drift and not a planned act."
He also added that there may have been "a certain anger regarding the socio-economic situation, which led to the commission of the crimes."
However, he stressed, "this is without claiming that the actions were legitimate."
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