Sergeant Kahalani (L) and Lieutenant Daus
Terrorist who killed 2 soldiers in ramming attack charged with murder
Kabha, who used his vehicle to ram, murder two Israeli soldiers and wound two more, is indicted for homicide after having confessed under interrogation to having acted under nationalistic motives.
Alaa Kabha, who last month ran over four IDF soldiers, killing two and moderately-to-seriously wounding the other two, has been charged Monday with two counts of murder and two counts of attempted murder by the military court in Samaria.
The military prosecution requested that Kabha's remand be extended until the end of legal proceedings against him.
Kabha, a 26-year-old resident of Barta'a—which straddles both sides of the Green Line in the Wadi Ara region—is a former security prisoner who was released from prison in April 2017.
Sergeant Netanel Kahalani, left, and Lieutenant Ziv Daus
Kabha initially insisted the attack was merely an accident, but he later confessed under interrogation to having acted under nationalistic motives.
According to the indictment, Kabha drove his brother to a junction near Mevo Dotan, after which he made his way back to his home.
During the drive back, he noticed four Home Front Command fighters near a pillbox post located between the village of Ya'bad and nearby olive plantations, standing next to a military humvee.
When he arrived at the nearby Barta'a-Reihan Checkpoint, he decided to make a U-turn and return to the pillbox post in order to kill the soldiers in retribution for the humiliating treatment of Palestinian women by Israeli security forces at West Bank checkpoints.
Alaa Kabha
As he approached the pillbox, Kabha noticed the four were still there. The two slain soldiers—Sergeant Netanel Kahalani and Lieutenant Ziv Daus—were standing at the front of their military jeep, while the other two stood on the vehicle's other side, near the road.
When he was about 100 meters from the post, Kabha veered from the road, sped up, and deliberately maneuvered his vehicle into the space between the pillbox and the humvee where the soldiers were standing and drove his hyundai jeep straight into Kahalani and Daus. The two were killed instantly.
He then sped towards the two other troops, wounding one very seriously and the other moderately.
The ramming vehicle
Kabha's vehicle then hit the pillbox itself, turned on its axis and came to a halt in the opposite lane. He sustained light-to-moderate injuries and was treated at the scene before being evacuated to Hillel Yaffe Medical Center in Hadera for treatment.
Following the attack, the IDF raided the Kabha's home, questioned members of his family and arrested his brother for further interrogation. The Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, Major General Yoav Mordechai, ordered the immediate suspension of the permits of Kabha's clan. 67 permits to work in Israel were revoked, along with 26 trade permits and four employment permits applicable to the settlements.
Later that month, the Shin Bet concluded after a thorough investigation that no other person was involved in the attack or even aware Kabha's intent, ruling he acted as a lone-wolf terrorist, and without the guidance of a terror group.
IDF raids Kabha's home
Nevertheless, both Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad praised the attack, asserting it is part of the "natural right of the Palestinian people to defend itself in its land and holy places."
At the time, Defense Minster Avigdor Lieberman vowed to push for the terrorist to be executed, his home demolished and all those who cooperated with him brought to justice.
"There is no such thing as individual terrorism," Lieberman then added, claiming this attack—and others like it—do not qualify as such for the fact that it is backed and supported by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinian Authority, "which pays money to the families of the terrorists."
