The Beersheba District Court sentenced three defendants to prison terms ranging from 3.5 to 5 years for plotting several terror attacks in Israel, including a plan to assassinate National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir with a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG).

The three men, two Arab-Israelis and one Palestinian, received light prison sentences  as part of a plea agreement in which the original charge was changed from “conspiracy to assist the enemy,” which carries a sentence of life imprisonment or death, to “disclosure of a decision to betray.”

The trial of the other seven defendants, including the main defendants, is ongoing.

According to the original indictment, the three men, who were part of a terror cell that included six Arab-Israelis and four Palestinians, planned to carry out attacks at the Knesset, Ben-Gurion Airport,  and military and security bases.  They also planned the abduction of a Jew from the Shomron and the assassination of Ben-Gvir in a large-scale attack in his hometown of  Kiryat Arba, involving the planting of explosives throughout the town, followed by a shooting spree.

Minister Ben Gvir said in response to the sentences: “The prosecution is abandoning my blood – and the blood of all government ministers. The plea deal signed with the terrorists who planned to murder me with an RPG is a disgrace. The serious charge of ‘conspiracy to aid the enemy,’ which carries the death penalty or life imprisonment, was changed to ‘disclosing a decision to betray’ – a much lighter offense, in which they will serve up to only 5 years in prison.”

“Such an arrangement sends an encouraging message to terror: continue to try to carry out assassinations and harm symbols of government, and you will get away with it cheaply. The absurdity is even more serious when you understand that no one bothered to talk to me before the arrangement, and did not receive my position, in violation of the law. This is not just a blow; it is a blow to the entire country. The public in Israel should know: the prosecution is abandoning the lives of elected officials.”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)