Supreme Court Stiffens Jail Sentence for Bilingual School Arsonists

Israel's Supreme Court stiffened on Sunday the prison sentences of two far-right Jewish brothers convicted of a politically motivated arson of Jerusalem's bilingual school, adding another eight months to their  sentences.

• Third arsonist of Jerusalem bilingual school sentenced to three years in prison
• Jerusalem bilingual school arsonists given heavy sentences
• Someone would rather burn my son's school than let Jews and Arabs coexist

Shlomo and Nahman Twito were convicted under a plea bargain of torching the Max Rayne Hand in Hand School in November 2014. The plea bargain included no guidelines regarding the sentence, but the Jerusalem District Court decided to sentence them to 24 and 30 months in prison, respectively, prompting the state prosecutor to appeal what they described as a lenient sentence.

Justice Elyakim Rubinstein, who headed Sunday's panel of six judges, ruled that "parents who choose the bilingual school follow a unique path different to that of most of Israel's citizens and residents in order to fight in their own way for the values to coexistence." Those who attack them, added the judge, "add fuel to the fire of tension between Jews and Arabs, and humiliate the Arabs among us."

Last December, Yitzhak Gabbay, the third man found guilty in the torching of the school, was sentenced by the Jerusalem District Court to three years in prison after he refused to sign the plea deal in which the Twito brothers confessed to the arson.

Last August, the prosecution appealed the brothers' sentencing, saying that the punishment doesn’t serve as a deterrent that stops others from emulating the arsonists' actions. The prosecution didn’t state an appropriate punishment, but said that the District Court was wrong in deciding that the minimum punishment for this type of arson should be 10 months' imprisonment. Instead, it said, the minimal punishment in such cases should be two years' imprisonment.