Israel's parole board decided on Sunday morning not to shorten the jail sentence of Ibrahim Hassan Agbariya, who took part in the murder of three soldiers on what was coined the 'Night of the Pitchforks' in February 1992.
The board wrote that Agbariya, who is serving three life sentences and an additional 15 years for other offenses, is still "continuing negative ideological activity in jail, of the sort that led him to commit the murders in the first place. We did not find that the prisoner had changed his ways or abandoned this ideology.
"In these circumstances, we found that there is no place to recommend to that the honorable President shorten his sentence since he is still dangerous," reads the decision.
The 'Night of the Pitchforks' is the name of the terror attack in which three soldiers from the Nahal Brigade, Yuri Preda, Yaakov Dubinsky, and Guy Friedman, were murdered in their tent encampment during a week of field training.They were murdered by four Israeli Arabs, including Agbariya and his brother Mohammed Hassan Agbariya, Ibrahim Hassan Mahmud, their cousin Yahya Mustafa Agbariya, Muhammad Hassan Mahmud and Mohammed Tawfik Jabarin, from the Wadi Ara area, who were recruited by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. The terrorists infiltrated the encampment armed with two axes, three knives, and a pitchfork, giving the incident its name. The killers were eventually caught by the Israel Police after intelligence led to a house where the weapons were unearthed. The killers did not show remorse but entered the courtroom waving Korans and chanting “Allahu akhbar” (God is great) and readily admitted their crimes. The four said their purpose was to kill “non-believers.” On April 29th, 1992, the four were each sentenced to three life sentences, and 15 years for additional offenses such as weapon ownership infractions, the attempted murder of a fourth soldier, belonging to an illegal terrorist group, and trespassing. The four did not appeal.