Please click here for a list of posts relating to cases in which Honenu provided legal counsel to victims of antisemitic attacks in Jerusalem and click here for a list of posts relating to the May 2021 Arab rioting throughout Israel.
Anteman proposal; Photo courtesy of the photographer
Wednesday, September 7, 2022, 9:15 Following a letter from Honenu Attorney Chayim Bleicher, the office of the State Attorney announced that they will appeal the leniency of the penalty imposed on two of the terrorists, Rami Salah al-Din and Nawaf Abu al-Hawe, who brutally attacked Avia and Shahar Anteman immediately after their engagement in May 2021.
Avia proposed to Shahar in Beit HaHoshen, overlooking the Temple Mount. Then they headed toward Beit Orot, and on their way, their car was blocked by other cars. At the A Tor Intersection dozens of Arab rioters threw rocks at them. Avia got out of the car and was beaten, pelted with rocks, and then stabbed in the back. Shahar escaped on foot and hid behind a parked car until the police arrived. The couple met up again in Beit Orot. Avia was evacuated, injured and bleeding, to the Sha’arei Tzedek Hospital. He suffered a head injury, stab wounds to his back, and a punctured lung. Due to prolonged hospitalization and outpatient treatments, the couple postponed their engagement party.
In July, the Jerusalem District Court handed down lenient sentences of five and seven years’ imprisonment to Salah al-Din and Abu al-Hawe, both of them adults. Honenu Attorney Chayim Bleicher, who is representing the Antemans, sent a letter, summarized below, to the office of the State Attorney demanding that they appeal the lenient penalty.
Avia in hospital; Photo credit: Tzur Anteman
Summary of the letter:
Avia Anteman was kicked, punched, beaten with a police barrier, and stabbed as he was sprawled on the street for several minutes. The defendants also attacked security forces with Molotov cocktails on many occasions.These are dangerous terrorists who attacked again and again in coordinated attacks, endangering the lives of civilians and security forces.
Lenient penalization severely damages the deterrence factor and impedes the war on terror. The security considerations necessary to maintain the physical safety of Israeli citizens and to keep the fabric of life intact are of the utmost importance. The crimes of which the two terrorists were convicted are punishable by up to 25 years’ imprisonment. It is not clear why the judicial system is settling for penalties of only a few years’ imprisonment, despite the high maximum penalty for the severity of the acts. Was it not for times like these that the counter-terror law was legislated?