Four Israeli Arabs who admitted hacking to death three soldiers in their sleep in February were sentenced to life imprisonment by the Nazareth District Court in a brief session Wednesday.
The defendants, who showed no remorse, said they were serving Islam in a holy war against the infidels. Their attorney said the sentences would not be appealed.
The confessed killers are Ibrahim Hassan Agbariya, 27; his brother, Mohammad Hassan Agbariya, 24; their cousin. Yihya Mustafa Agbariya, 24; and Mohammad Tawfik Jabarin, 40.
All were residents of Israel’s Wadi Ara region.
They entered the court waving Korans and chanting “Allahu akhbar” (God is great) and readily admitted their crimes, which Judge Yehuda Abramowitz called the acts of “relentless beasts committed brutally and barbarically.”
The four said their purpose was to kill “non-believers.” On the night of Feb. 14, they entered a lightly guarded recruit training camp near Kibbutz Galed and murdered three soldiers who were asleep in a tent, using knives, axes and a pitchfork. Two were recent immigrants from the former Soviet Union.
A fourth soldier was wounded. The assailants escaped with their weapons.
District Attorney Esther Softer, who demanded life terms, said the case was especially vile because there was no connection between the killers and their victims.
The only reason they were murdered was because they were soldiers and Jews, Softer said.
It was disclosed, meanwhile, that the interrogation of the accused led to the arrests of 12 other Israeli Arabs on charges of arms-trading with terrorists in the administered territories.
The suspects are in custody pending legal action.
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