The Tel Aviv District Court convicted on Thursday Ashraf Keisi, responsible for driving a suicide bomber to the Tel Aviv nightclub where he blew himself in 2005, killing five people and injuring 50. Keisi was convicted on five counts of murder and on another count of attempted murder.

Keisi was also convicted of aiding an enemy during wartime, supporting a terror organization, causing mental anguish and other offenses. Hearings on his sentence will take place at the end of August.

Twenty-eight-year-old Keisi, from Baka al-Garbiyeh, drove Abdullah Badran in February 2005 to "Stage," located on the Tel Aviv beachfront promenade, where he blew himself up at the entrance to the club. In the ensuing investigation, Keisi admitted that he had been in contact with Islamic Jihad militants in order to help choose the location of the attack.

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Despite the admission, Keisi tried to claim during his trial that he had no prior knowledge of Badran's plan to carry out a suicide attack, but the judges rejected the claim.

Judge Saviona Rothlevy, who stood at the head of the panel that heard the case, wrote in the verdict that she rejected the "version of the accused, and especially his claim that he did not know ahead of time that he was bringing the suicide bomber to an attack and that the intention of the latter was to carry out an attack came as a surprise to him during the journey."

"I also reject the claim of the accused that he had regrets during the drive but could not act on them because of the suicide bomber's threats. We know from his mouth that he called an involved party the day after the attack in order to claim his money," the verdict continued.

Keisi picked up Badran at Kfar Jat in the heavily Arab-populated "triangle" region, which borders the West Bank. From there, they drove through Herzliya to Tel Aviv, getting through a police checkpoint with the help of Keisi's car, which had Israeli license plates.

Before the suicide bomber disembarked, they agreed Keisi would wait about half an hour until the bomb was detonated so that he could get back to Baka al-Garbiyeh before police had the time to set up more police checkpoints, thus making his drive riskier.

Earlier, Keisi had recommended that Islamic Jihad militants not send a suicide bomber to Netanya, explaining that there was little chance that many people would be outside in the cold in order to serve as targets.

When Hadera was raised as a potential site for attack, Kasey refused. He had lived there until the age of 14, and much of his family remained in the area. Eventually, the beachfront promenade of Tel Aviv was chosen.

Kasey received $5,000 for his role in the attack. He was supposed to receive another $14,000, but it was never paid to him.