Palestinian convicted of manslaughter gets 18 years in prison
After initially being charged with murder of Israeli farmer David Bar Kafra, Palestinian Alaa Atzi sentenced to maximum punishment for manslaughter; Bar Kafra's daughter laments 'Jewish blood has become expendable.'
In addition, Atzi will pay Kafra's widow NIS 180,000.
Aatzi's relative and accomplice Mujahed Atzi was convicted of murder and still awaits his sentence.
Initially, Alaa and Mujahed were both indicted with murder. However, only Mujahed was convicted in murder and Alaa was convicted with merely manslaughter.
Bar Kafra's family resented the verdict when it was first given. Bar Kafra's daughter Talia expressed her disappointment after the sentence was given, "We regret the court's decision. We thought that after three years of this legal procedure's ups and downs we would have some sort of comfort. It seems we were proven wrong."
After the court had given Alaa an 18-year sentence she said, "We have mixed feelings. On the one hand, the sentence that was given is almost the maximum for manslaughter. On the other hand, the feeling is very bad. Our father was murdered."
"He (Atzi) has already been placed under arrest for three years. Those years will be deducted from his overall sentence, and after ten year at the most he will be released ," she elaborated.
"On the personal level it's extremely difficult. On the national level, this it is also shattering—Jewish blood has become expendable," Bar Kafra's daughter lamented.
Bar Kafra's son Aliyah also expressed his harsh sensations. "Unfortunately, the court's ruling is lacking. Within 9.5 he (Atzi) can be freed and resume his life."
"We stopped our life three years ago. We've asked to acknowledge the murder as nationalistic. We still haven't discussed the hard questions: How can it be nothing was stolen if he (Atzi) had come to steal? No answers were provided," he elucidated.
"The terrorist killed our father only because he was Jewish and we consider him as a murderer," Bar Kafra's daughter concluded.
Mujahed Atzi worked at Bar Kafra's vineyard in the Gezer Regional Council's Pedaya moshav in central Israel for three weeks. He was forced to resign, however, as he had no permit to stay or work in Israel. Despite the fact that Bar Kafra, 70, paid Atzi his full wage, Mujahed told his relative that he was still owed money. The two thus decided to collect.
On June 23, 2015, they entered Israel—once again without permits—and drove to the vineyard. They stayed overnight at a nearby orchard and noticed Bar Kafra out in the field the following morning.
They waited for a man who drove to the vineyard to complete his purchase of grapes and drive off, and—assuming the customer paid cash—decided to rob Bar Kafra.
The defendants then drew near him, with Mujahed Atzi obscuring his face with a shirt. Bar Kafra managed to cry out "thieves" before Mujahed gagged him with a piece of cloth. The pair then began beating him on his head and body with a stick and with their hands.
Bar Kafra collapsed, but they continued beating him. At one point, Mujahed Atzi poured pesticide over the prone elderly man.
When Bar Kafra lost consciousness after being badly bruised, the pair placed him on a mattress and escaped back to their home without calling for help, but also without taking anything because they could find no money on his person.
Bar Kafra was rushed to the Yitzhak Shamir Medical Center (formerly Assaf Harofeh), where he was pronounced dead. A short time later, the two were apprehended.
The Central District's prosecution said, "The prosecution has decided that in light of the grave circumstances the defendant should be sentenced to the maximum punishment given on manslaughter of which he was convicted. The court embraced that decision today."
