The Be'er Sheva District Court sentenced five defendants in the lynchings during Operation Wall Guard, including the son of the head of the Lakia Council, Val Al Asad, today (Thursday).
The son was sentenced to 7 and a half years in prison and 12 and 6 months on probation, respectively, for various counts of violence.
He was also fined NIS 15,000.
The sentence was determined following the conviction of the defendants in the serious events that took place on the night between May 10 and 11, 2021. During these hours, disturbances took place, blocking transportation routes and throwing stones at vehicles at the Lakia intersection and on Route 6, near the settlement.
Three months later it was allowed to be published that as part of a joint operation by the Shin Bet and the Israel Police, five suspects were arrested for involvement in lynchings in the Negev region: Kutsai Alasad, Hassan Alasad, Omar Alasad, Val Alasad and another minor - all residents of the Bedouin settlement of Lakia. They were arrested on suspicion for involvement in the attempted lynching of three drivers.
Gosai received 10 years in prison and the minor received 3 years in prison.
The other three defendants, including Ahmed Alasad's son (head of the Lakia Council, who also has a rich history of violent crimes), received 7 and a half years in prison.
The Bedouin settlement of Lekia (those photographed have nothing to do with the article), photo: Efrat Eshel
Selection at the impromptu checkpoint
The court described the violent events as follows: "The mob sets up an impromptu checkpoint on the highway. At the checkpoint, a selection is made: a non-Jewish driver is allowed to go on his way. On the other hand, if it turns out that the driver is Jewish, or if he is only suspected as such, then the mob shouts enthusiastically." Jew' and wishes to lynch him, or almost lynch him."
"The mob breaks out in a burst of severe violence, during which it throws stones at the Jewish resident in his car," the verdict reads.
"Sometimes, the Jew is badly damaged in his car, sometimes they try to hurt him and set his car on fire after he is taken out of it, and sometimes his property is 'just' destroyed. The viewer of this harsh and gloomy picture may mistakenly think that this is a picture from the dark days of the last century in Europe. It is not. This is the picture of reality of Israel in May 2021".
The first vehicle attacked during the incident was driven by a Jewish woman.
Her car was stoned and after being rescued by a truck driver who was there, her car was also set on fire.
The driver of the second car that was attacked was a Thai foreign worker.
His car was also stoned.
After stopping the car, the driver was taken out and violently attacked.
Later, those involved also set his car on fire.
The driver was released only after the attackers realized he was not Jewish.
The third driver was a Jewish driver, whose vehicle was pelted with stones, while an attempt was made to remove him from the vehicle by force.
The driver was miraculously rescued only when a police force arrived at the scene.
"An enraged crowd on a nationalist-ideological background"
In the sentencing decision, Judge Yuval Livdaro justified the severe punishment: "Within the circumstances that are not related to the commission of the crime, weight must be given to both the individual deterrence considerations and the multiple deterrence considerations required in this sentence for crimes under the auspices of an integrated mob on a nationalist-ideological background. The defendant's attorney argued that it is proven that the sector The Arab-Bedouin did not break out in similar riots after the war began on October 7, so there is no reason to give similar weight to the considerations of deterrence given near the 'Guardian of the Walls' riots, but I believe that this claim should be rejected. First, when offenses are transferred from a nationalist-ideological motive to the considerations of deterrence, And in particular the deterrence of the many, extremely important for the purpose of dealing with such offenses which have unfortunately become a not unusual phenomenon."
The judge also added: "In my opinion, in the reality of our lives, it is doubtful whether there is any room to dim the importance of these considerations, but due to the fact that during a certain period of time, similar riots did not occur. Needless to say, in our case, no very significant period of time passed from the 'Guardian of the Walls' operation to the outbreak of the war - and hence the time is not yet ripe, if at all, to give reduced weight to deterrence considerations."
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