In a dramatic last-minute twist, the military prosecutor charged the terrorist responsible for the murder of Yohai Avni, a 40-year-old resident of Givon HaHadasha in the West Bank, with committing the crime “because the victim was Jewish.” This nationalist motive was added to the indictment just hours before it was presented to the military court on Tuesday morning, marking the first official recognition, 51 days after the incident, that it was indeed a terrorist attack. The decision came after sustained pressure from the victim's family and media coverage by Ynet and Yedioth Ahronoth.
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Yohai Avni on the right and the terrorist Ibrahim Mansour
(Photo: Liran Tamari, Private family album)
The indictment accuses Hamas member Ibrahim Mansour of intentionally causing death, an offense that amounts to murder under military law. Military court judge Major Barak Tamir ordered Mansour to remain in custody until at least September 11. “The indictment describes in detail how the defendant decided to enter Givon HaHadasha, despite knowing that it was a settlement inhabited exclusively by Jews, and then caused the death of the victim. It describes the brutal acts and how the defendant stabbed the victim 66 times,” the judge said.
Previously, Ynet reported that a lie detector test showed that Mansour was lying when he said he did not plan the murder. During his interrogation, he claimed it was a botched burglary. Further investigations revealed that Mansour was wandering around the settlement with a knife shortly before the murder. The forensic institute confirmed that Avni suffered 66 stab wounds all over his body.
Some details of the indictment are difficult to read.
The gruesome attack occurred on July 7. The indictment describes the horrifying sequence of events in graphic detail. Mansour first tried to break into a second-floor apartment, but when he found the door was locked, he climbed to the roof and entered through a window. Yohai, a prison officer, was asleep in bed. Although Mansour saw that Yohai was asleep, he entered the apartment, and when Yohai woke up, a struggle ensued, during which he tried to defend himself and screamed for help.
According to the indictment: “The accused was determined to cause the death of the deceased and attacked him with extreme brutality, also because he was Jewish.” When Yohai tried to defend himself, Mansour hit him on the head with a vase with such force that it shattered into many pieces. “The accused hit the victim several times with a chair until the chair broke under the force of the blows,” the indictment continues.
Mansour murdered Yohai with 66 stab wounds using two different knives, one of which was taken from the apartment's kitchen and had a 17-inch blade. The indictment gruesomely details the number of times Yohai was stabbed in various parts of his body: nine times in the head, nine times in the neck, ten times in the chest, once in the stomach, twenty times in the back, five times in the torso, twice in the buttocks, and once each in the shoulder, arm, hand, and thigh. Most of the stab wounds were inflicted with the knife or a similarly sized blade.
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Yohai Avni
(Photo: Courtesy of the family)
Finally, the indictment states: “The defendant stabbed the dead man with the knife into the right back of his neck and plunged it deep into his neck until the blade came out the left front – all because the dead man was Jewish and to ensure his death. After the murder, the terrorist set fire to the apartment and fled, but was arrested two days later.”
Attorney Ran Ruchberger said the family is relieved that the charges also include a nationalist motive. “The family feels great relief this morning and welcomes the charges,” said Ruchberger, the family's attorney. “We appreciate the military prosecution considering our arguments. The charges clearly recognize the nationalist motive behind the heinous murder of Yohai Avni and offer some comfort to the grieving family.”
Yohai's sister Nitzan spoke during the morning hearing. “We have lost the most precious human being, Yohai Avni. He was incredibly good and infinitely generous. We have suffered an immense loss. As the days went by, we uncovered the horrific act of hatred that the terrorist had committed, an act of terrorism. Two days ago, we learned that he had been stabbed 66 times – not just in vital organs, but all over his body, not just to kill him, but to torture him. Then he burned everything.”
“We are convinced that justice is on our side,” Nitzan said. “We have fought a hard battle with a high cost, but it is our battle as a nation, as Jews, with such a difficult history. My father is a son of Holocaust survivors, whose entire family was murdered and burned in Auschwitz. I am also a granddaughter of Holocaust survivors, as is my husband Niv. We will do everything to ensure that we can sleep peacefully in Israel and put our children to bed at night without fear that a terrorist will come and commit hate crimes against us. Such a situation cannot exist. We will do everything, and the Prosecutor's Office, the State of Israel, will stand by us, because we have no other choice. We are together. As Yohai said in his video: Am Yisrael Chai!”
