Collaborator in deadly Jerusalem stabbing attack gets 35 years in jail
Abed al-Aziz Ma’ari, a 22-year-old student from Abu Dis, who planned and assisted Mohand Halabi in an attack which killed Rabbi Nehemia Lavi and Aaron Bennett in Jerusalem’s Old City last year, will also be required to pay NIS 258,000 to each member of the victims’ families.
Ma’ari, a 22-year-old student from Abu Dis, will also be required to pay NIS 258,000 to each member of the victims’ families.
According to the indictment issued against him, he planned the entire attack which took place in the Old City last Sukkot and purchased a knife for 19-year-old Mohand Halabi from Ramallah, who carried out the attack.
Ma’ari was also convicted of illegally entering Israel and possession of a knife.
“A person like this, who destroyed the lives of two families, should not see the light of day in his life,” said Rabbi Lavi’s widow, Neta. “I have mixed feelings,” she said in response to the sentencing. “On the one hand, we should be feeling okay because it’s a relatively serious punishment, but the injustice suffered by my children and by the Bennett family is an injustice which will never end.”
In their verdict, the judges wrote: “The culprit played a crucial and active role in a criminal organization aimed at murdering Jews for being Jews. The victims were attacked violently and brutally. Without the help and mental support that Halabi received from the culprit, his plan would not have been executed. The offenses had serious and fatal results. A review of the condition of the victims’ families reveals that they suffered a difficult loss and enormous pain, as well as anxiety and loss of (all joy).”
In the original indictment, Ma’ari was charged with murder and attempted murder of Adele, Bennett’s widow, who was seriously wounded in the attack. According to the amended indictment which was submitted to the District Court, Ma’ari, a Hamas activist, encouraged Halabi to carry out the attack on the eve of the Jewish holiday of Sukkot.
On the day of the attack, Ma’ari and Halabi arrived for prayer at the Al-Aqsa Mosque. On their way, they ran into Israeli policemen who tried to stop them from entering the compound. Halabi then told Ma’ari that he would like to “slap” the policeman, and Ma’ari replied that he should not settle for that, advising him to do “something worthwhile.” Ma’ari bought Halabi a cleaver, took a selfie with him and told him that he must “die as a martyr” during the attack in order to become a "shahid.”
Shortly after the two men separated near the Nablus Gate, before Halabi went on his deadly rampage. He assaulted the Bennett family, a couple with two small children walking along the Old City’s HaGai Street on their way back from the Western Wall.
Rabbi Lavi, who lived on that street, heard them cry for help and rushed out to help them, but was murdered by Halabi, who also killed Aaron Bennett. Adele Bennett and one of her sons were wounded in the attack.
The next day, Ma’ari posted his selfie with the terrorist on his Facebook page and wrote “praise the Shahada (the creed of Islam).” The terrorist had written two days earlier on his Facebook page, “From what I see, the third intifada has broken out. I don’t think the people will accept the humiliation. The people will launch an intifada.”
