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 here for a list of posts relating to the May 2021 Arab rioting throughout Israel.
Tuesday, December 6, 2022, 10:09 Terrorists brutally attacked Avia and Shahar Anteman in A-Tor immediately after their engagement in Beit HaHoshen, overlooking the Temple Mount in May 2021, during Operation Guardian of the Walls. Yesterday (Monday) the couple demanded that the Prison Service parole board not be lenient with the penalty of one of the terrorists who attacked them. The demand came in light of a hearing that took place today on a request for early release due to good behavior from the terrorist who has been sentenced to 27 months’ imprisonment. Honenu Attorney Chayim Bleicher filed the request on the Antemans’ behalf. (For another recent development in the case, click here.)
In their letter, the Antemans described the difficult feelings with which they have lived since the attack and that have worsened in light of the possibility that the terrorist’s sentence could be lightened: “Approximately a year and a half ago, we experienced a brutal attack that shook our world on a day that should have been the happiest day of our lives. Vicious terrorists barraged us with rocks, injured us, beat us, and stabbed [Avia]. Miraculously we came out alive, safe and sound (almost). Currently, after the penalties for our attackers were finally set, we heard as a complete surprise about the intent to consider reducing by a third the sentence of one of the terrorists who was found guilty of attacking us.”
The couple added that the decision made by the parole board damages their trust in the judicial system: “We would like you to know that the incident has stayed with us and will continue to be with us throughout our entire lives. It saddens us to think that the one who brought the incident upon us will walk free while we have to bear [its effects]. From the start, when we saw that the court chose to be relatively lenient with the penalty, something in our trust in the system broke, and now that we understand that they are considering reducing his sentence by one-third – for a security prisoner, no less – this gives us a lack of trust in the system’s abilities of law enforcement and penalization. In addition to the lack of trust, we continue to go around our country feeling, as many Israeli citizens are feeling, a lack of security. Lightening the terrorist’s sentence will further weaken the deterrence factor that is weak as it is.”
Honenu Attorney Chayim Bleicher, who is representing the Antemans, stated, “From the start, the penalty handed down to the terrorist who was party to such a brutal attack was extremely lenient. Parole for the terrorist would be genuine abandonment of and contempt for the security of Israeli citizens. We expect the parole board to immediately reject the terrorist’s request and to leave him behind bars until he serves all of his time.”
At the conclusion of the letter, the couple emphasized that lightening the terrorist’s sentence would be a prize for terror: “Not all of the assailants in the brutal attack that we experienced have been detained and some of them certainly know the terrorist. Reducing his sentence by one-third would constitute a consolation prize for them also, which would cause them to continue their murderous acts. We, as those who have experienced the brutal attack, expect that you will treat the prisoner with an extremely firm hand so that genuine security will return to our country.”
Avia proposed to Shahar in Beit HaHoshen, overlooking the Temple Mount, on the night of May 9, 2021. The couple announced their engagement to family and friends and then headed toward Beit Orot. On the way, their car was blocked by other cars, and 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.