Prosecution seeks life sentence for Fuld killer
The IDF Prosecution on Thursday requested that the Judea Military Court sentence the convicted murderer of well-known American-Israeli activist Ari Fuld to one life sentence for murder as well as an extensive additional sentence for three attempted murders.
In addition, the IDF Prosecution requested a significant monetary award as part of the sentence.
However, both the award it asked for and the jail time, which was less than multiple life sentences, were somewhat less than what the Fuld family had sought.
Palestinian Khalil Yusef Ali Jabarin was convicted by the Judea Military Court in January for the murder, as well as for three other attempted murders.
Fuld, 45, was stabbed in the upper back on September 16, 2018, outside the Gush Etzion shopping center, by then 17-year-old Jabarin of Yatta, a village located south of Hebron.
“Every murder has two victims,” said Ari’s widow, Miriam Fuld, in the lead up to the trial. “The victim, and the family left in its wake.
“Ari was a hero in his life, loved his fellow man, loved the Land of Israel, loved the State of Israel,” she continued. “And he protected them – whether serving in active military service still at the age of 45 or in educating the younger generation, or teaching self-defense or posting articles and videos in social media.”
She said that even in the last moments of his life he chased his killer with a fatal wound in his back to make sure the terrorist did not hurt anyone else.
Miriam said, “Nothing will comfort me, who has lost the love of my life: my soul mate, my life companion,” she said. “I have lost the only person who can comfort me; my partner, my best friend.”
The family’s lawyer, Maurice Hirsch, said that there is no doubt that Ari’s murderer should receive multiple life sentences – “one for the life that he took and another for the lives of the others he intended to murder. The big question is if the court will cower before terrorism and allow Ari’s murderer to enjoy the fat salaries he is paid by the Palestinian Authority, or will it send a powerful message and award all of those payments,” to the Fulds.
The sentence could be handed down as early as July 2.
FOLLOWING THE quick indictment of Jabarin in October 2018, the case was delayed for six months by Jabarin’s initial lawyer being indicted for unrelated crimes.
The entire trial was behind closed doors since the murderer was a minor when he killed Fuld.
Prior to attacking Fuld with a 21-centimeter knife, Jabarin had scoped out the Ziv junction, the Cave of the Patriarchs near Hebron and a checkpoint near Beit Lechem as possible venues for his attack, before settling on the Rami Levi supermarket outside the Gush Etzion shopping center.
Jabarin decided not to attack someone at the Ziv junction because he could not find an IDF soldier; not at the cave because it was closed; and not at the Beit Lechem checkpoint as he was worried that nearby Palestinians might get caught up in his assault.
However, when he saw Fuld, he noticed that his back was turned to him and that he was distracted on a cell phone, so he decided to attack.
Mortally wounded, Fuld chased his Palestinian attacker, jumped over a short stone wall and shot and wounded him before he himself collapsed.
Born in New York, Fuld, 45, immigrated to Israel in 1994.
The dual US-Israeli citizen lived in Efrat with his wife Miriam, and their children Tamar, 22, Naomi, 21, Yakir, 17 and Natan, 12.
He was a well-known activist and was among the most prominent American-Israeli Jews killed by terrorists in recent years.