Mahmoud Elraji, 36, from the town of Dura near Hebron in the Palestinian Authority, was sentenced on Wednesday to 18 months behind bars after working as an armed security guard at the Azrieli Mall in Holon.
Mahmoud Elraji’s arrest by Holon police:
The police were first alerted to the case following a resident of Nazareth’s complaint that a gun permit had been issued under his name even though he never applied for it. Investigators traced the permit to a security company at the Holon Mall and identified Elraji who was watching over Israeli shoppers, armed with a handgun and two magazines that were issued to him by the security company.
Elraji, who had served time for identity theft, purchased a forged Israeli ID card from an outfit in the PA. With the card, he had no trouble passing the security company’s vetting process and working for a week as a security guard. Before getting the job, he had stayed inside Green Line Israel for six months and used the fake ID card.
“I didn’t intend to do anything bad, only to provide for my family,” Elraji told his police interrogators. “I passed all the tests they gave me to become a security guard. It’s not my fault they didn’t check things in detail.”
He also asserted, “I insisted at the end of each shift at the mall to deposit the gun in the security company’s safe.”
The 18-month sentence was the result of a plea bargain after the prosecution had asked for two to four and a half years, arguing the defendant could potentially carry out a catastrophic terrorist attack. The defense argued that Elraji only wanted to feed his family, and asked for eight to twenty months.
Judge Benny Sagi of the Tel Aviv District Court sentenced Elraji to 18 months.
In reality, seeing as Elraji only spent one week on the job, a major catastrophic event may indeed have been prevented.
