The father of a man convicted of murdering IDF soldier Ron Kokia in 2017 threatened the victim’s father on Wednesday and called him a murderer.
Odeh Abu Jaudah, whose son Khaled stabbed Kokia to death in Arad, clashed with Boaz Kokia at the Beersheba District Court. The two confronted each other, after a hearing for the elder Abu Jaudah, a resident of an unrecognized Bedouin village, who is facing charges tied to the attack, but is not accused of involvement in murder.
Abu Jaudah and his brother shouted at Kokia, who came to the hearing along with activists from Im Tirzu, a right-wing advocacy group.
A verbal altercation ensued between the two camps.
"We know where you live, let’s take this outside," Abu Jaudah shouted at Kokia, according to a Channel 12 news report. "You are murderers, you are shit."
In a statement later, Kokia called on the court to severely punish Abu Jaudah. The illegal presence of Paleostinians who do not have permits to be in Israel is what leads to terror attacks, he said, and pointed to the recent deadly assaults in Bnei Brak and Tel Aviv, both committed by Paleostinian who were illegally in Israel.
Later Wednesday, police detained Abu Jaudah and his brother for questioning over the threats.
Abu Jaudah is accused of twice helping the terrorist’s mother illegally enter Israel before and after the stabbing attack, including after she had already been caught without a permit and expelled in the wake of the murder. His relationship with the woman was not clear from the Channel 12 report, but Kokia has in the past accused Abu Jaudah of polygamy, according to media.
Kokia and Abu Jaudah have clashed at the courthouse in the past.
In February 2020, Abu Jaudah and his family condemned the killing carried out by his own son and begged forgiveness for the act.
A year later, the Ynet news site reported that Kokia pressured prosecutors to drop a plea deal with stabber Khaled Abu Jaudah’s half-brother Zahi, who the Shin Bet said acted as an accomplice and assisted him after the attack. Zahi has been indicted for attempted murder, possession of a knife, and obstruction of justice, among other charges.
Kokia has called for the death penalty
for both Khaled and Zahi Abu Jaudah. Though not an option for the court, some right-wing politicians have in recent years called for legally instituting a death penalty for attackers.The Shin Bet said Khaled Abu Jaudah, from an unrecognized Bedouin village in southern Israel, fatally stabbed Kokia, a sergeant in the IDF’s Nahal Infantry Brigade, while the serviceman waited at a bus stop on November 30, 2017. He was convicted in 2019 of first-degree murder.