Itongadol.- The man who bombed a Tel Aviv bus, wounding 26 people during Operation Pillar of Defense in 2012, was sentenced to 25 years in prison on Monday.
Muhammad Abed al-Jaffer Nasser Mafarja was convicted as part of a plea bargain deal he signed in December 2013, which dropped the harshest charges against him and allowed him to avoid a life sentence.
Mafarja\’s lawyer, Laviv Habib was unsuccessful in his efforts to seek a sentence shorter for his client than the 25 years which was the maximum possible sentence under the plea deal.
Habib said although Mafarja’s actions were “not simple, he was young, his failure was as a teenager who was not yet 18 at the time of the bombing, he was pressured by others and did not fully understand the consequences of his actions.”
Habib added that now Mafarja “is taking responsibility, has shown regret” and reasserted an earlier argument that the bomb was a “weak bomb” designed to convince the IDF to end its military actions in Gaza and “not primarily to kill.”
Pressed on Mafarja’s intent, Habib admitted that while Mafarja said he did not intend to kill, he knew it was a possible consequence of his actions, but in the end no one died, despite many injuries.
The prosecution agreed to drop the harshest charge, of aiding the enemy in a time of war, which could have carried a life sentence. They agreed to drop that charge because of Mafarja’s young age, the lack of fatalities, and that the charge would not necessarily guarantee a life sentence.
Mafarja was convicted on the charges of performing an act that showed intent to assist an enemy, attempted murder, causing the explosion of explosive material and causing serious bodily harm.
Originally from the West Bank, Mafarja was able to move within the Green Line and acquire Israeli identification documents after a family reunification.
According to prosecutors, on the morning of the bombing, Mafarja spent a few hours riding around on several different buses in Tel Aviv while carrying the bomb, looking for a bus full of passengers.
Eventually, he got on a crowded bus, Bus 142 from Ramat Gan to Tel Aviv.
Just before he arrived at a bus stop at the Ramat Gan industrial district, Mafarja activated the bomb and then left it on the third seat on the right side and got off the bus. He called one of his associates immediately afterward and told him that the bomb was in place. Minutes later, the bus arrived near the corner of Shaul Hamelech Boulevard and Henrietta Szold Street, where the bomb was detonated.
Prosecutors said after Mafarja got off the bus, he took a train from the Savidor Central Train Station back to Modi’in, where he returned to his job at the McDonald’s eatery in the Azrieli Mall.
The Shin Bet and police said that several hours after the bombing, they managed to arrest Mafarja and the other members of the Beit Likya-based cell.
Indictments have been filed against several other suspects who prosecutors claimed were part of the “military cell” from the Ramallah area, which they said also plotted to carry out suicide bombings and shooting attacks against politicians and soldiers.
In January, the Military Advocate-General’s Office filed an indictment with the West Bank Military Court of Judea against the alleged mastermind of the bus bombing, Ahmad Salah Ahmad Musa, a 25-year-old resident of Beit Likya.