Funeral of 64-year-old Alexander Levlovitz, who was killed by rock-throwing terrorists on the eve of Rosh Hashana. (Hadas Parush/Flash90)
Recognizing the deadly consequences of rock-throwing, the Knesset voted Tuesday in favor of harsher punishment for the terrorists.
Stricter penalties for rock-throwing terrorists has become law on Tuesday following a 51-to-17 vote of approval in Parliament.
Member of Knesset Nissan Slomiansky, chairman of the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, who presented the bill, stated: “The punishment for throwing rocks does not nearly reflect the consequences and the carnage they cause. Setting a minimum penalty is a necessary step,” he explained, in order to counter the popular impression that the objects thrown are small stones, capable of little harm.
In fact, rocks are now being defined as harmful instruments, similar to knives, guns and firebombs.
Toddler Adele Biton, for example, was hit by rocks thrown by Palestinian terrorists while she was traveling in her family car. She spent the rest of her short life in a rehabilitation center, where she died two years later at the age of four.
The new legislation includes a minimum of three years in jail. The sentence can be no less that one-fifth of the maximum sentence of 15 years. The sentences may not be suspended, except under special circumstances.
Rock-throwers will be stripped of national insurance during the prison sentence, and parents of assailants who are minors will lose the payments during that period.
MK Jamal Zahalka of the Joint List protested the new legislation.
“Fires cannot be put out with gas, and this law is throwing gas on a fire,” he declared. “There is no logic in punishing a father whose son threw a rock.”
Zahalka was caught on film in September joining in the abuse of Jewish visitors to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. “This is not yours, get out of here, go home, you’re not wanted,” he was seen yelling at a police officer sent to protect the visitors.
By: United with Israel Staff