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Terrorists who killed 4 at Tel Aviv’s Sarona Market convicted

The three terrorists responsible for the deadly shooting attack at Tel Aviv’s upscale Sarona Market last year were convicted.

The Tel Aviv District court on Monday convicted the three terrorists who plotted and carried out the murder of four Israelis at Tel Aviv’s Sarona Market in June of 2016.

Two of them, first cousins Khaled Mahamrah and Mahmoud Mahamrah, carried out the actual shootings. The third man, Yunis Aish Musa Zin, helped to supply them with weapons, including the Carl Gustav submachine gun found at the scene afterward. All three come from the town of Yatta, near Hebron.

Zin had originally planned to take part in the attack, but the Mahamrah cousins told him he couldn’t because he was in debt and Islam forbade martyrdom in such a case.

In remarks to Channel Ten after the attack, Khaled said, “The Jews are occupiers and this land belongs to Muslims. The Jews are heretics, and therefore it is permissible to kill them.… I sought to die as a martyr, the greatest death a Muslim can have.”

Khaled and Mahmoud had originally made plans to attack passengers on a train in Be’er Sheva, but were deterred by the security system at the station. They instead took a taxi to the Azrieli Towers in Tel Aviv and sought a crowded area. Dressed as businessmen, they asked passersby for a popular place to eat, and were directed to the nearby Sarona Market. Upon arriving at the Max Brenner café, they began shooting indiscriminately. When their weapons jammed, they split up and fled, but were ultimately caught by security forces.

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Victims Ido Ben-Ari, 42, of Ramat Gan; Professor Michael Feige, 58, of Givatayim; and 32-year-old Mila Mishaev of Rishon Letzion died immediately. Ilana Naveh, 39, of Tel Aviv, fell during the attack, lost consciousness, and was pronounced dead upon arrival at a hospital.

Two Main Issues at Trial

There were two main issues in the trial. One was whether to charge Zin with murder or the lesser charge he had been indicted on – aiding and abetting. The other was whether Naveh’s death could be ascribed to the shooting. Ultimately, two of the three judges ruled that Zin should be convicted of the greater charge of murder, while all three judges agreed that the terrorists caused the deaths of all four victims, including Naveh.

The terrorists were also convicted of acting on behalf of ISIS, although they were not formally recruited or trained by them. They had, however, told people they knew that they were going to carry out their attack in the terror group’s name.

Sentencing will take place next month.

By: Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News