The Hadera Magistrate’s Court sentenced Mahmoud Sheikh Khalil, a 20-year-old man from Arara, to 10 months in prison for religious insult offenses after he urinated near a sacred station, among other offenses. Additionally, he was sentenced to a suspended prison term and a fine of 10,000 shekels.
“The defendant acted not only knowingly but also as one who is consumed by hatred toward Jews,” Judge Alex Akhter ruled.
According to the indictment, the incident occurred in December 2023 in the city of Harish around 2:00 A.M., when, during a night out, Khalil and his friend were walking along a shopping boulevard on Derech Eretz Street. Khalil noticed a sacred station, a cabinet containing religious items, including Torah scrolls, tallitot (prayer shawls), tefillin kits, and charity boxes.
Khalil approached the table, stood close to it, and urinated on the spot, while touching and rummaging through the sacred books and items.
Khalil then escalated, tearing pages from the holy books, taking three charity boxes, kicking them with his feet, crushing them, and stealing an unknown sum of money. Additionally, Khalil took the tefillin kit from the site, ripped the straps from the boxes, and threw them on the floor, all while telling his friends that these items belonged to Jews, even emphasizing aloud that he hated Jews.
Actions harmed foundational values, judge says
“The defendant not only vandalized the site but also simultaneously expressed his disgust and hatred toward Jews,” Akhter said in his ruling.
He added that “the defendant’s actions, particularly the intentional vandalism of the tefillin station while expressing concrete disdain for Jews, clearly and materially harm protected values such as human dignity, the right to religious worship, and the potential or actual harm to public sentiment.”
According to the judge, “The defendant’s actions caused real harm to values that are the foundation of tolerance, freedom of religion and worship, and the ability to live a free religious lifestyle in the public space in Israel, a state of the ingathering of exiles.”
Bassem Kendallaf, the lawyer representing Khalil from the Public Defender’s Office, emphasized that these were indeed ugly actions and that there is absolutely no place to justify them. He did not dispute the circumstances of the offenses and the inherent harm caused to public sentiment.
He requested that the court take into account the defendant’s personal circumstances, including his childhood drug use.
