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Light sentence in brutal murder shows double standard for Jews, Palestinians

A Jerusalem teenager, identified only as “A,” was given a perplexingly short 8- year sentence after a plea bargain for the stabbing death of a Palestinian, Hussam Rawidi, following a brutal and apparently unprovoked attack.  The charge was reduced from “murder” to” killing, (manslaughter)” which enabled the court to impose the lenient sentence.   The crime occurred on February 11, 2011. Rawidi was 24-years-old when he was killed. 

The incident took place in the center of Jerusalem, on a Friday night.The defendant and three of his friends, residents of Jerusalem, Beit-El and Itamar, heard Rawidi talking with his friend Murad Jelani in Arabic. A friend of the defendant’s began voicing racist remarks toward the two. 

In its ruling, the court said that at the time, the defendant was not aware of the racist remarks made by his friend. However, he joined the quarrel after seeing his friend beating the two.

Judge Zvi Segal said that, ‘At some point, the young man pulled out a barber’s razor blade and assaulted the deceased, causing a deep cut in his face, from the ear to his cheek.’  It also states that while Rawidi was bleeding to death, two of the friends also began beating Rawidi.

Two friends of “A” were apprehended by police when they returned to the stabbing scene and attempted to remove evidence of the crime. (Hebrew report only.)

Two of the defendant’s friends were convicted of causing a severe injury, as part of a deal reached with the prosecution, and were sentenced to six months of community service. [Emphasis mine, IG]

It is not clear from the reports if these two were also the youths who attempted to conceal the crime or the disposition of the case of the third friend of “A.”  The perpetrators’ names did not appear in the report, but the names of both victims were given.

In addition to the prison term, the defendant was ordered to pay a sum of 5000 shekels (approx. 1200 US dollars) to the family of the victim.  This sum was described by Ha’aretz as minuscule (זעומים). (Hebrew report only).

The father of the victim, Hussain Rawidi, told the newspaper, “This is not worth anything, that he serves eight years for what he did….  Those are the courts, I can’t do anything.  He murdered my son just because he is an Arab.” (Hebrew only)

Yariv Oppenheimer, the director of Peace Now, said, “If the perpetrator was an Arab and the victim was Jewish, the sentence would have been life.  Only in Israeli courts, the life of an Arab is worth no more than 5000 shekels.  The prosecution must appeal the sentence.” (Hebrew only) 

Again in the Hebrew version only, the paper provides this instructive comparison. 

In similar cases the judgment was far harsher.  In 2009, Eric Karp was murdered on a Tel Aviv beach by Arab youths.  These attackers were also convicted of killing [as opposed to murder, IG] but they were sentenced to a 26-year prison term and forced to compensate the family in the amount of 300,000 shekels.

Sources

Hasson, Nir, “Jewish teen sentenced to 8 years in jail for killing Arab in Jerusalem,” July 12, 2012 (English)

Hasson, Nir, “5000 shekel compensation to the family of an Arab who was stabbed to death by a Jew,” July 12, 2012 (Hebrew)

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This is a somewhat bizarre story. Proportionately, this is the most severe sentence I’ve ever heard handed down against a Jew for a crime in which the Arab was a victim.

More usually, there’s no conviction at all.

“A”

Anonymity for the killer?

Did he have a Guy Fawkes mask in court too? (We are Anonymous. We are Legion. We do not forgive. We do not forget. Expect us).

So that no one can find out that he is not in prison?

Strange country…

If there actually was any hope for Israel at all, then this case would mark a step forward, as when in 1838 (or something) British authorities arrested and charged some Australian settlers with murder for killing some aborigines.

I suppose one could file the article under ‘balance’ — but as criticism of Israel? If only this were an outrage.

RE: “The incident [stabbing death] took place in the center of Jerusalem, on a Friday night.”

ALSO NOTE: “The First Word: A day in Jerusalem”, By Yehudah Mirsky, Jerusalem Post, 05/07/09 

(excerpt) Nobody who has lived in Jerusalem in recent years needs any educating about the sword from without. A week ago Thursday I discovered the terror within. It coils through Jerusalem’s streets, and us. . .
. . . As I came out of the plaza, right across the street from city hall, I saw four men jump, stomp and kick the daylights out of several others (Lord knows why) and run off.

I called for the police and waited for them to arrive as people ran out of the surrounding pubs to help the crushed victims, whose blood ran down the sidewalk. 
First ambulances came – some of the EMTs were haredim, and some were women. Then came the police, and I reported to them what I’d seen. After the police left, some young haredim came up to me, hungry for details: Did you see fists? Did you see a knife? 
I told them how earlier in the day their comrades had nearly done the same to me.
“There was action at the demo? We missed it?”. . .
. . .When I finally got home, at about 2:30 in the morning, my wife was, luckily for me, awake. I told her something that I had been thinking and scared to say for a long while: that the Jerusalem of my dreams, the Jerusalem where heaven and earth kiss, the Jerusalem of my father’s childhood, is finally dead. . .

ENTIRE COMMENTARY- http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Columnists/Article.aspx?id=141545

the cases are entirely diffrent. i dont understand why you considre them to be double standard. did you read the original ruling in both cases?