By DANIEL K. EISENBUDUpdated: JANUARY 25, 2017 23:30THE CAR Alexander Levlovitz was driving during his fatal collision.(photo credit: ARIK ABULOFF / JERUSALEM FIRE AND RESCUE SERVICES)
Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court judge on Tuesday sentenced one of the four east Jerusalem terrorists charged in the 2015 Rosh Hashana rock attack that killed Alexander Levlovitz to 18 years in prison, reportedly the longest sentence in the country’s history for a rock attack.On the night of September 13, the youths from the Arab neighborhood of Sur Bahir, all of whom subsequently confessed to the crime, threw rocks from an overpass at Levlovitz’s vehicle, causing him to lose control and crash into a pole in neighboring Armon Hanatziv.Levlovitz, a 64-year-old grandfather from the nearby Armon Hanatziv neighborhood, who was driving home with his two daughters following dinner at a friend’s home, died hours later of his injuries. His two daughters were also seriously wounded in the collision.The rock causing the deadly collision was thrown by Mahmoud Abed Rabbo Doiat, then 19, who was sentenced on Tuesday for manslaughter. Doiat was also convicted of firebombing security forces in 2014.His home was sealed by the IDF last April, and he has been ordered by the court to pay Levlovitz’s children NIS 100,000.In October, Doiat accepted an initial plea deal for the sentence, with the stipulation that he testify against his three co-defendants: Muhammad Abu Salah, 19, Fares Mostafa Walid Atrash, 19, and a fourth minor, whose age prohibits publication of his name.According to an indictment, Doiat said he wore a Hamas flag he received earlier in the month at an “Al-Aksa is in Danger” demonstration against the banning by the Defense Ministry of two groups from the radical Northern Branch of the Islamic Movement from the Temple Mount.The rally was jointly organized by Hamas and the Northern Branch, according to security forces, and precipitated what some have deemed the deadly “knife intifada.”After causing the crash, the four suspects fled the scene and met again to coordinate their alibis, the indictment states.Shortly after their arrests were announced, Levlovitz’s family issued a statement saying that, while they were grateful to security forces for apprehending the suspects, “the mission is not complete.”
“It is important to increase the punishment for rock-throwing and bring the perpetrators of these crimes to justice, because rocks murder,” the statement said.Following the attack, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the scene of the crash and “declared war” on those who throw rocks and petrol bombs.“This stone is one too many,” Netanyahu said. “We are declaring war on those who throw stones and bottles, and rioters.