Ninety-nine percent of rock-throwing incidents and Molotov cocktail attacks in Judea and Samaria resulted in plea deals and lenient sentences, according to new research on thousands of violent attacks on Jews between 2019 and 2020.
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According to the research data, published by Lavi, a nonprofit that works for civil rights and good governance, and right-wing non-governmental organization Im Tirzu, less than one-third of those involved in rock-throwing incidents, 408 out of 1,283, received a prison sentence. A majority of such incidents ended with the perpetrators either being put on probation or made to pay a fine.
Of the 865 Molotov cocktail attacks reported in Judea and Samaria in that same time period, just 285 resulted in a prison sentence despite the fact that under the law, perpetrators can receive up to 20 years in prison for the offense.
By contrast, Lavi and Im Tirzu noted the Jerusalem District Attorney's Office filed 15 indictments against Arab residents of east Jerusalem with the magistrate, district, and juvenile courts for Molotov cocktail attacks. Just five of those 15 indictments resulted in a plea deal, while 10 cases ended with convictions and sentences.
"We can and must put an end to the Molotov cocktail and rock-throwing terrorism. The findings should keep us up at night. It now turns out this is the method [of choice], and the Military Prosecutor's Office isn't trying to enforce the law and make a decision in its area of authority, thereby sending the many efforts that have been made to capture and bring the terrorists to justice down the drain," Lavi chairman Avichai Buaron said.
He said: "We refuse to accept a situation in which the lives of residents of Judea and Samaria are threatened time and again by rioters, and when those rioters are finally arrested, they have an open door in the form of a lenient plea deal waiting for them at the Military Prosecutor's Office. We call on the military's prosecution system to get its house in order as far as the Military Prosecutor's Office's wholesale signing-off on plea deals with defendants on security offenses is concerned."
In a statement, representatives for Im Tirzu's Policy and Research Department said: "The Military Prosecutor's Office is on the frontlines of the legal fight against terrorism, and as such, it must lead an unrelenting battle against those who initiate and carry out terrorist activity. The picture revealed by the data analysis is incredibly bleak. Instead of being the spearhead in the war on terrorism and striving for contact and victory, the Military Prosecutor's office prefers to reach plea deals with the terrorists.
"The Military Prosecutor's Office must adopt a firm and aggressive stance to increase deterrence against terrorism," the department said.
Attorney Morris Hirsch, a former chief military prosecutor in Judea and Samaria, called the report's findings "a serious blow to state security. In a place where we can still create deterrence, of all places, the Military Prosecutor's Office is mitigating punishment. We often see terrorists accused of murder or terror attacks, and these are the same people who were brought to court because of rock-throwing or Molotov cocktail attacks. If they would have been given a heavier sentence in their youth, they may not have returned to terrorism later on."
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