Terrorist who murdered Israeli near Dolev gets 2 life sentences
Mohammed Abu Shaheen shot Danny Gonen and Netanel Hadad at close range after asking them to pull over and pretending to need help, murdering Gonen and wounding Hadad; court also orders him to pay NIS 3.5 million in damages.
Mohammed Abu Shaheen, the terrorist who murdered Danny Gonen near the Dolev settlement in June 2015, was sentenced on Monday to two life terms in prison.
The Ofer military court also ordered Abu Shaheen to pay NIS 3.5 million in damages to the family.
Gonen's mother Dvora welcomed the sentencing. She wrote a letter to her son, telling him what had transpired since he was murdered.
Dvora went on to tell her son, "It's strange that the State of Israel continues allowing him to celebrate at everyone's expense. Last time we saw the murderer, he looked down for the first time. He realized the party is over, that the Eternity (God) of Israel will not lie. I fought. We fought."
She criticized the delay of justice, saying "Who thought I would have to fight so much for you, for justice?"
Gonen, a electrical engineering student, and his friend Netanel Hadad, went swimming at a spring close to the Dolev settlement and the Palestinian village Dayr Ibzi' in the Binyamin region of the West Bank in June of 2015.
On the way back, the two drove towards the main road when the terrorist signaled to them to stop and help him. Gonen and Hadad stopped the car and were shot at close range, while the terrorist got away. Gonen was murdered and Gadad was wounded.
According to the court, Abu Shaheen went on a "killing spree," trying again and again to kill civilians and soldiers simply because they were Jewish.
Due to his heinous crimes, the court ruled Abu Shaheen will receive the most severe punishment the court can hand out, determining he is "no longer worthy of walking freely among men, and his imprisonment for the rest of his life also derives of the need to protect society as whole from dangerous murderers such as him.”
The court also recommended not commuting his sentence or releasing him.
According to the indictment, Abu Shaheen planned the attack for weeks along with a cell that included three other members. He was convicted of murder, attempted murder, arms trade, arms manufacturing and military equipment trade.
Abu Shaheen was also convicted of 13 counts of attempted murder for carrying out or attempting to carry out shooting attacks at IDF soldiers, Border Police and civilians starting in April 2014 and until his arrest in July 2015. In one of these attacks, a soldier was wounded.
