Five years after they were brutally attacked in Jerusalem, minutes after getting engaged on the Mount of Olives, Aviya and Shachar Antman are to receive additional compensation from two of the terrorists who took part in the mob attack against them.
Under a settlement reached in a civil lawsuit, Omar and Yousef Jaber agreed to pay the couple an additional NIS 26,000, beyond the compensation ordered in the criminal proceedings.
The compensation was secured following a lawsuit filed by attorney Chaim Bleicher of the Honenu organization, who represents the couple. According to the organization, those involved in the attack have so far been ordered to pay a combined total of approximately NIS 200,000 in compensation.
The attack took place in 2021, during Operation Guardian of the Walls and the riots in Jerusalem. Aviya and Shachar went to the Mount of Olives, where Aviya proposed to Shachar. Shortly afterward, however, as they were leaving the area, the joyous occasion turned into a violent, life-threatening ordeal.
As the couple drove away, they were identified as Jews. Omar and Yousef Jaber, together with other rioters, blocked their path and began attacking them. Aviya was brutally beaten all over his body and stabbed in the back by one of the rioters, while Shachar managed to escape the vehicle and hide among the bushes, where she could see and hear her fiancé fighting for his life.
Despite the severity of the attack, no investigation leading to the arrest of suspects was initially launched. Honenu maintains that the investigation advanced and those involved were arrested only after Bleicher contacted the Jerusalem Police's Central Unit directly.
Omar and Yousef Jaber were subsequently tried and convicted of committing a terrorist act of causing grievous bodily harm with aggravated intent. They were sentenced to six and nine years in prison and ordered to pay the victims a total of NIS 80,000 in compensation.
The criminal proceedings, however, did not mark the end of the couple's legal battle. Through Honenu, they filed civil lawsuits against their attackers, seeking additional compensation for the harm they suffered.
Bleicher said, "We sued all the terrorists one by one and succeeded in actually collecting substantial sums in compensation from them, and our work is not over. The terrorists were forced to pay an additional amount on top of what they had already paid in the criminal proceedings. We will continue working to help victims of terrorism and create real deterrence against anyone who considers carrying out a terrorist attack against Israel's law-abiding citizens".
Alongside the proceedings against the attackers themselves, the Antmans are continuing to pursue a separate compensation lawsuit against the Palestinian Authority.