Jew convicted of manslaughter for Palestinian suicide bombing

An Israeli Jew was convicted today of manslaughter for smuggling a Palestinian suicide bomber from the West Bank into Israel, where he carried out an attack that killed five Israelis.

The Tel Aviv District Court found Kfir Levy guilty of transporting the bomber from the West Bank, through an army checkpoint, into Israel. The Palestinian blew himself up at the entrance to a mall in the coastal city of Netanya on July 12, 2005. In addition to the five Israelis killed, 80 were wounded.

According to the conviction, Levy, who was the driver, and an Israeli Arab passenger took advantage of their citizenship to get through a roadblock without undergoing a security check.

Israelis have different ID cards from Palestinians from the West Bank.

For his part, Levy received 1,000 shekels (€180).

The passenger and a second Israeli Arab, who transported the bomber on the final leg of his trip to Netanya, were also convicted of manslaughter.

The three “turned a blind eye to the circumstances that led to the fatal attack”, wrote the panel of judges, the Haaretz newspaper’s website reported.

The judges accepted the prosecution’s charge that the three men must have at some point suspected that the two Palestinians were planning a bombing, since they transported them by themselves in vehicles meant to hold 10 people, Haaretz said.

Levy and another defendant had been warned in the past to be alert, as part of their work transporting Palestinians to work in Israel, that suicide bombers could try to get in with them as well, the judges ruled.

Levy’s attorney told Israeli media that his client thought his Palestinian passengers worked in Israel and did not know they were planning a bombing.

The sentencing of the three was set for a later date.