The Beer Sheva District Court today (Tuesday) sentenced Yuval Kahan, former director of the Bnei Zion preparatory school, and Aviv Berdichev, an instructor at the preparatory school, to prison terms after they were convicted of responsibility for the Nahal Tzafit disaster.
Kahn and Berdichev were sentenced to 7 years in prison and 210,000 NIS in compensation to the families of the victims. The two were also sentenced to suspended sentences.
The prosecution requested a more severe sentence of at least 12 years in prison for each of the two.
The decision on the sentence stated: "The defendants' negligence was not momentary. Their negligence lasted for many hours. Each of the defendants had many opportunities to stop and did not do so. Yuval did not admit that he failed and took responsibility, on the contrary - he placed responsibility, even if only by implication, on others. His taking responsibility is an empty shell, not real responsibility. Aviv also did not take responsibility but denied responsibility and pointed to others. I found that they should receive a similar punishment.".
Last November, the two were convicted of negligently causing the deaths of nine girls and a boy in the Nahal Tzafit disaster in 2018.
In response to the conviction, the parents present in the courtroom burst into tears and criticized the lenient sentence - causing death by negligence - instead of the reckless death demanded by the prosecution.
Hadar Alfi, whose son Tzur perished in the disaster, told Kan News: "It's heartbreaking. There are no words to describe the difficult feeling. How was it determined that they were unaware of the danger? What did they sanctify here?".
In the flood disaster in the Tzafit Stream in April 2018, nine female and one male campers were killed: Agam Levi, Ilan Bar Shalom, Ella Or, Gali Belalli, Ma'in Barhoum, Tzur Alfi, Romi Cohen, Shani Shamir, Yael Sadan, and the late Adi Raanan.
Two other participants in the trip were seriously injured.
As mentioned, the prosecution initially charged the defendants with negligent homicide, but the two were ultimately convicted of causing death through negligence only.
As part of the arguments for the sentence, Attorney Vadim Sigal and Attorney Dror Stork of the Southern District Attorney's Office stated: "The defendants' negligence, which led to the disaster, was not minor. As determined in the verdict itself, the defendants' actions and omissions were substantial, escalating, and prolonged. In light of the magnitude of the unreasonable risk taken to the deaths of the preparatory school students, who were hiking in the stream...""
After the verdict was handed down, attorneys Sigal and Stork stated: "We regret that the defendants were convicted of lesser offenses than those charged in the indictment, which in our opinion does not fully serve the defendants' case.".
""On a personal note, after years of close support for the families of the victims, and especially during this complex period, we will remember our great loss as a society - in the deaths of ten young people whose only desire was to contribute to the country and the people.""
Join the Haredim 10 Facebook page >>
Join the X page of Haredim 10 >>
Want more news, videos and stories? Join the Haredim 10 WhatsApp channel >>
