- Murder of Danny Katz
-
Murder of Danny Katz Location North District, Israel Date December 8, 1983 Death(s) a 14-year-old Israeli civilian (Danny Katz) Perpetrator 5 Arab assailants. The Murder of Danny Katz was a terrorist attack carried out in 1983 in which a Palestinian militant killed 14-year-old Israeli teenager Danny Katz. The attack, prominent among a series of attacks aimed at Israeli children during the early 1980s, shocked the Israeli public due to its brutal nature. It signified to many in the Israeli public a deterioration to their personal security at that time.
Contents
The murder
On Thursday, December 8, 1983, the 14-year-old Israeli teenager Danny Katz, a resident of the Denia neighborhood of Haifa, left his house to visit a friend, but disappeared en route.
After a three day search, Katz' mutilated body was found outside a remote cave in the Sakhnin region, bearing marks of strangulation and sexual assault.[1][2]
The perpetrators
A letter found in the pile of garbage near the cave led the investigators to Samir Ghanem, a resident of Sakhnin. Ghanem initially denied the allegations, but later confessed and implicated four additional partners in crime - Ahmad Kozli, Fathi Janameh, Ali Ganayem and Atef Sabihi. All five admitted to killing Danny Katz. All were eventually found guilty of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. Two of the assailants, Ahmad Kozli and Atef Sabihi, also admitted later on to the abduction, rape and murder of Daphna Carmon.[3]
Aftermath
The assailants' attorney Avigdor Feldman claimed that the suspects' conviction was improper due to a lack of solid evidence against the accused and the court's reliance solely on their confessions, which according to the defendants, were given under duress. In 1991 the Israeli Supreme Court ruled that the defendants' claims were not credible and that their conviction on the basis of their confessions and additional evidence were sufficient.[4][5]
Following continuous public pressure, the Israeli Justice Minister David Libai ordered the attorney Judith Karp to prepare a report about the case. Following the report, an appeal for a retrial was handed to the Israeli supreme court. President of the Supreme Court Aharon Barak ruled in 1999 that a retrial would be held for the accused.[6]
In 2000 the retrial began, a relatively rare procedure in the Israeli legal system. The defendants were convicted again in 2002 after the judges were convinced that the defendants' confessions were admissible.[7][8] Defense attorney Feldman appealed to the Supreme Court, but his appeal was unanimously rejected after the court examined the evidence and ruled that the district court's verdict was well established.[6]
In 2007 Israeli President Shimon Peres issued a pardon reducing the sentences of Danny Katz's assailants.[9] The significance of reducing the sentence of the killers meant that they now had the option of asking the prison parole board to deduct a third of their sentences.[10][11] In July 2008, the prison parole board rejected Danny Katz's assailants appeal to deduct a third of their sentences on the grounds that they are still dangerous to the public.[12]
References
- ^ פרשות היעלמות הילדים שהסעירו את ישראל - וואלה! חדשות
- ^ Murder of teen in Israel provokes national anguish
- ^ חדשות - בארץ nrg - נקצב עונשם של רוצחי דני כץ
- ^ http://www.ynet.co.il/yaan/0,7340,L-1128645-PreYaan,00.html
- ^ בג"ץ דחה את ערעורה של משפחת דני כץ על קציבת עונש רוצחיו משה כץ נגד נשיא המדינה (נמחק), בפסקדין, אתר המשפט הישראלי
- ^ a b נדחה ערעור רוצחי הילד דני כץ לפני 22 שנים; ביהמ"ש העליון: המניע לרצח - לאומני - גלובס
- ^ Retrial again finds five guilty of 1983 Danny Katz murder - Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News
- ^ Life imprisonment for murderers of Danny Katz in 1983 - Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News
- ^ אביו של דני כץ בכנסת: "פרס פרע חוב בחירות"
- ^ Peres defends decision to reduce jail time for Danny Katz's murderers - Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News
- ^ Peres Reduces Jail Terms of Israeli-Arab Terrorists - Politics & Gov't - News - Israel National News
- ^ נדחתה בקשת רוצחי דני כץ לניכוי שליש מהמאסר
External links
- Killing shocks Jewish state - published on The Sun on December 15, 1983
- Israel Fears Child-killings May Be Terrorist Plot - published on the Montreal Gazette on December 13, 1983
- Retrial again finds five guilty of 1983 Danny Katz murder - published on Haaretz on February 26, 2002
Prominent terrorist attacks against Israeli targets in the history of the Arab–Israeli conflict – the 1980s 1980 Misgav Am hostage crisis (April 7)1982 Assassination attempt of the Israeli ambassador in London (June 3) – First suicide attack on the IDF headquarters in Tyre (November 11) ‡1983 Second suicide attack on the IDF headquarters in Tyre (November 4) – Murder of Danny Katz (December 8)1984 Egged bus 300 hostage crisis (April 12)1985 Ras Burqa massacre (October 5) – Shooting attacks on the El Al counters in Rome and Vienna (December 27)1987 Night of the Gliders (November 25)1988 Mothers' Bus attack (March 7)1989 Murder of Avi Sasportas and Ilan Saadon (February 16) – Tel Aviv stabbing attack (March 21) – Tel Aviv Jerusalem bus 405 suicide attack (July 6)‡ indicates the terrorist attack which caused the greatest amount of Israeli casualties during the 1980s
Full list of Lebanese rocket attacks on Israel
1970s
1990sCategories:- Israeli murder victims
- 1983 in Israel
- Murdered Israeli children
- Terrorist incidents in 1983
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
