Torched car (archive)
Photo: Raanan Ben Zur
Brothers charged with conspiring to attack IDF officer
Shibli and Kamal Hussein charged with soliciting an assault on IDF officer living in their village who they believed was responsible for cousin's death in Gaza
Two brothers from the Druze village of Hurfiesh were indicted Wednesday morning at the Haifa District Court on charges of torching a car belonging to a state employee and attempting to solicit an attack on an IDF officer.
The brothers, Shibli (26) and Kamal (29) Hussein, are charged with setting fire to the private vehicle of Hurfeish council chairman Riqaad Hir al-Din in early March. According to the police investigation the brothers sought to exact revenge on al-Din after they believed he dishonored their father, who heads the education department for the local municipality.
"They believed that the organizational changes the council chairman implemented dishonored their father and in response they torched his car," Chief Inspector Yoram Azoulai told Ynet.
But while investigating the arson a second, more disconcerting story came to light. "The defendants offered a man working on our behalf some $7,000 to assault an IDF colonel from their village, who the brothers see as responsible for the death of their cousin in a gunbattle in Gaza," said Azoulai. Shibli even decided to legally add the cousin's name, Sammar, to his own.
Police sources said the evidence against the two on both counts - arson and soliciting attack against a military officer - is substantial. State prosecutors expect the court to sentence the brothers to the full extent of the law.
The attorney for the Husseins, Ibrahim Khoury, said in response: "The defense has yet to receive all the necessary information from the investigation. My clients deny any involvement in the arson or the attempt to solicit anyone to harm an IDF officer. This is a charge that the two brothers were unaware of until the indictment; it was not mentioned during the investigation or the time of their arrest. We will study the charges and respond to them accordingly."
