The Military Court in Judea and Samaria today (Thursday) filed an indictment against Mahmoud Maruh Kabha from the village of Tora al-Arabiya, who murdered the late Tal Menashe resident, Esther Horgan, on December 20, 2020. The indictment attributes to him the offenses of causing death Intentionally (equivalent to a homicide offense), conspiracy to shoot at a person and other offenses.
Kabha, who previously ran a prison sentence in Israel for terrorist offenses, decided to carry out a nationalist attack in retaliation for the death of his friend in prison. He considered firing at security forces, but due to the high cost of weapons he abandoned the idea. Then, about a month before his arrest, he arrived in the Reihan forest, saw Israeli-Jews there and decided that the place was suitable for carrying out a stabbing attack.
The indictment details step by step the brutal murder. “The defendant ran after the deceased for 15 meters until he reached her, grabbed her with both hands behind her back, pulled her by her elbows while shouting and threw her at stones he noticed on the side of the path. The deceased fell to her back, her head hit the stone, and as a result she began to bleed. The rest kept shouting as she resisted using her hands and feet and tried to get up.
The latest documentation of the late Horgan // Photo: Preliminary documentation in the telegram
“In response, the defendant sat over the body of the deceased, pressing her hands to the sides of her body and placing his knees on her hands to prevent her from resisting and fleeing. Then, the defendant took a large stone in his hands, swung it with both hands over his head, and struck her twice on the side. “The rest. The rest increased her cries, while the bleeding from her head increased.”
The indictment further states that the terrorist “stood behind the deceased’s head, grabbed her by her clothes, and dragged her on her back for about three meters into the thicket of trees, away from the path, to hide his actions and allow himself time to escape before noticing his actions. The deceased continued to shout and try to defend through Her hands.
His said actions caused severe injuries to the body of the deceased, including fractures and crushing of her skull and fractures in her hands and ribs. As a result, the death of the deceased was caused. The defendant saw that as a result of his actions, the movements of the deceased stopped and her voice fell silent, he understood that he had caused her death, and decided to flee the scene. “
The Horgan family issued a statement following the indictment, which read: “We congratulate the security forces, the Commander-in-Chief, the Brigadier General, the Shin Bet, the Israel Police and the Military Prosecutor’s Office, who acted quickly to arrest the killer and bring him to justice. The family is awaiting trial.”
From the explanations given and from reading the indictment, it is clear that the wild incitement in the Palestinian Authority motivated the killer to carry out his plot. And now, having acted as requested by the authority, he is enjoying fat salaries that the authority is paying him, as a reward for the murder. It is time to act more forcefully, both against the incitement and against the financial rewards that the PA pays to the terrorists. “
Mapping the defendant’s home in the murder // Photo: IDF Spokesman
The military prosecution sought to extend Kabha’s detention until the end of the legal proceedings in his case. Yesterday, the High Court rejected the petition of his family and HaMoked against the demolition of the area that served as his residence in his home.