An indictment was filed Thursday against a student, 16, enrolled in the Pri Ha’aretz yeshiva in Rehelim, Samaria, for the killing of Aisha al-Rabi under terrorist circumstances. The minor defendant is also charged with throwing rocks at vehicles and intentionally wrecking vehicles.
The main evidence presented by the prosecution is a rock that was found at the scene of the incident, with the DNA of the suspect. The prosecution asked to remand the suspect to jail until the end of the proceedings against him.
According to the indictment, which was filed with the central district court, on Friday night, October 12, 2018, the defendant settled on a hill adjacent to the edge of Highway 60 in the section between the Rechelim Intersection and Tapuach Junction, accompanied by his friends from the Rechelim Yeshiva.
The defendant held a rock weighing about four pounds which he planned to throw at passing Arab vehicles—out of a racial, ideological motivation, in the prosecution’s opinion.
At the same time, Aisha al-Rabi, her husband and their 9-year-old daughter, were on their way to their home in Biddya, southwest of Shechem in Samaria.
As they neared the scene, the defendant identified the vehicle as Arab and as the vehicle was coming in at high speed, the defendant threw the rock forward with great force at the vehicle’s front windshield, aiming to harm the passengers, and with indifference to the possibility of causing their deaths.
The rock hit the right upper part of the windshield of the front car, smashed it, penetrated it, and hit with enormous force directly in al-Rabi’s head – while her family looked on. She suffered a severe and fatal head injury. Her husband, who was driving, managed to retain control and continued on his way to the Tapuach junction, flashing his emergency lights, calling his daughter to calm her down, and driving quickly to the nearest Arab clinic, where his wife’s death was determined.
According to a 2012 Supreme Court decision, a defendant can be convicted based on DNA evidence alone.
An employee of the Honenu legal aid society, which represents the accused minor, told The Jewish Press Online that the defendant gave his Shin Bet interrogators an explanation according to which he had been on a hike in the area of the attack on the car and it is possible that this is how his DNA ended up on the rock in question.
The Pri Ha’aretz yeshiva in Rechelim was founded some four years ago to cater to fringe youths and reintegrate them into religious society.