The Central District Court this Sunday morning convicted Ahmed and Mahmoud Zidat, residents of Hebron, for perpetrating the January 2024 vehicular rampage attacks in Ra'anana. These attacks resulted in the tragic death of Edna Bluestein and numerous injuries. The court also found them guilty of planning two other failed attack attempts, including an assassination plot targeting IDF spokesperson Lt. Col. Avihai Adrai.
The Zidat brothers, who illegally entered Israel to work, expressed allegiance to Hamas and endorsed the organization's terrorist actions. Motivated by the October 7th attack and amidst the Iron Sword War, they planned to inflict maximum casualties in Ra'anana. Using vehicles from their workplace, they executed simultaneous attacks at different locations to maximize harm.
One of the attackers targeted a pedestrian he presumed to be Jewish, seriously injuring him by ramming him with a vehicle and subsequently attacking others with a knife. The other attacker accelerated into a bus stop, causing injuries to 18 out of 25 people present, including the fatal injury of Edna Bluestein. Both perpetrators fled but were later apprehended by security forces.
In addition to confessing to murder under aggravated circumstances related to terrorism, the Zidat brothers were convicted of 27 counts of attempted murder, multiple charges of serious injury under aggravated circumstances, racially motivated attacks, illegal possession of a knife, and other offenses.
The indictment detailed their attempts to procure weapons from Hamas in preceding months and their unsuccessful plan to ambush security forces with axes and knives. Moreover, in December 2023, they conspired to assassinate Lt. Col. Avihai Adrai, leading one of them to rent an apartment in Ra'anana while working at a car wash to fund their activities in Israel. They were convicted on charges related to these preparations and their illegal entry and residence in Israel.
