Poisoning Plotter Sent to Jail

By Efrat Weiss, ynetnews.com

A young Palestinian of Nablus, who had conspired to carry out a poisoning attack at a Ramat Gan restaurant, was sentenced Friday by the Samaria Military Court to six years in prison and two years probation.

The affair was revealed last April after Eihab Abu Rial, 22, was arrested alon with his friend, Anas Salum, 22, also of Nablus, following information received by the Shin Bet several days before the attack was scheduled to take place.

The investigation revealed that the two had planned to hurt Jews by poisoning the food at the Grill Express restaurant in the central city of Ramat Gan.

Abu Rial worked at the restaurant as a cook, and two months before the arrest he got his friend a job washing dishes at the same place.

Several days later, Abu Rial suggested to his friend to take part in a mass poisoning attack. The two contacted terror elements and were recruited by a military cell of the al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, which is directed and financed by Hizbullah.

Emotional distress

According to the indictment, the two men told the Shin Bet investigators that two Palestinians from the Balata refugee camp were slated to bring them white flavorless and odorless poison, which begins to affect the victim four hours after it is consumed.

Meanwhile, the restaurant hired a new employee and Salum was afraid that he would be fired and won’t be able to carry out the attack. This prompted the two to travel to Nablus in order to get the poison as soon as possible. Fortunately, they were arrested by the security forces before returning to the restaurant.

During Abu Rial’s trial, his defense counsel asked the court to ease his punishment, claiming that he had been in a state of emotional distress after a relative he fell in love with married another person.

The judge, Major Yariv Navon, rejected the claims, saying that “his personal circumstances have very little value compared to the severity of his actions. The courts must clarify – loudly and clearly – that conspiring to carry out an attack would entail a severe punishment.

A similar incident occurred six and a half years ago in Jerusalem. Three Arab residents from the eastern party of the city were arrested on suspicion of being sent by Hamas to poison Israelis at a downtown café and carry out a suicide attack in the middle of a rightist movement’s parade.