A man was convicted Thursday of attempted murder with a terror motive for his role in the mob assault of a Jewish resident of Acre during the May 2021 riots that left the victim, Mor Ganashvili, with life-threatening and permanent injuries.
The guilty verdict for Qusay Abbas, 21, is the most serious yet among the nine individuals that are suspected of involvement in the attack.
Ganashvili was beaten with iron bars and other blunt instruments that rendered him unconscious and left him with two brain hemorrhages and internal bleeding, among numerous other injuries.
Judges in the Haifa District Court unanimously found Abbas guilty of terror charges including attempted murder, throwing rocks at a vehicle, vandalizing a vehicle with a racial motive, and rioting.
They rejected the defense’s claim that Ganashvili tried to run down his attacker.
The riots in Acre were part of a series of violent inter-communal disturbances, particularly in Israel’s mixed Jewish-Arab cities, that took place in the days following the outbreak of war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza in May 2021.
“I was very scared of the verdict. I am happy that a judgment like this was handed down because it really sends a message that Jewish blood is not worthless,” Ganashvili told reporters after the conviction.
Kosai Abbas from Acre, who participated in the lynching in Mor Janshvili in the city of Acre during the Wall Guard operation in May 2021, was unanimously convicted in the District Court in Haifa of all the crimes attributed to him in the indictment: terrorist acts of attempted murder, throwing stones at transportation vehicles and deliberate sabotage in a racially motivated vehicle and rioting .
God pic.twitter.com/TVD6UK79sV— Lior El-Hai (@PU6VwTWLaYQo8dL) July 13, 2023
“My mental health is in a bad state,” he added. “I deal with very bad PTSD that makes me not want to live. I am fighting for the people of Israel and my family that helps me. I am trying to keep myself together and hope that it will all be ok.”
Haim Bleicher, Ganashvili’s lawyer from the right-wing Honenu organization, said it was “clear to everyone this was an attempted murder, and we believe this will impact the rest of the suspects in the case.”
As part of a plea deal in November, the Haifa District Court ordered Adham Bashir, 24, to pay NIS 150,000 (approximately $43,000) in damages to Ganashvili for his role in the assault.
Bashir, also a resident of the coastal city, confessed to the crime and was convicted on charges of aggravated assault as an act of terror, attempted aggravated assault, and rioting.
In February 2022, Acre resident Bilal Hilwani was convicted of egging on the rioters to attack Ganashvili, and in March he was sentenced to a year in prison.
The attackers were among masked rioters roaming the streets of Acre on the night of May 12, throwing stones and launching fireworks at police officers and destroying public property.
They set up a roadblock using furniture and other objects, which Ganashvili encountered while driving to visit his mother, whom he was worried about due to the ongoing riots.
The rioters pelted Ganashvili’s car, which had Israeli flags on it, with stones and other objects, causing him to lose control and crash into a wall.
Ganashvili was rescued by another Arab resident of Acre, Fadi Qassem, a nurse who gave him first aid treatment and helped save his life before security forces and emergency medical services took him to the hospital.