Israeli Arab Man Charged With Triple Murder and Arson

Omri Abu Smak, a 27-year-old man from Jatt, has been charged with the aggravated murder of three young men from Jaljulia, one of whom was a minor, approximately two months ago. According to the indictment filed Friday at the Haifa District Court, Abu Smak and several associates, who have since fled Israel, led Qassem Ouda, his younger brother Zein Ouda, and their cousin Yahya Bisimi to an agricultural area in Jatt. There, they allegedly shot the three victims to death and then set fire to the vehicle they were in.

The indictment charges Abu Smak with aggravated murder, weapons offenses, altering a vehicle's identity, arson, and obstruction of justice. The murders occurred on the night of September 12-13. The indictment details that Abu Smak and his three alleged accomplices, Muad Hariri, Eid Hafni, and Mahdi Abu Mohsen, planned the murders in advance. They acquired a handgun, ammunition, an accelerant, and an old car, which had been taken off the road, and fitted it with license plates belonging to another vehicle.

Further details from the indictment indicate that Abu Mohsen picked up the three victims from Jaljulia and brought them to a residence in Jatt. From there, the group ordered hamburgers from a restaurant in Baqa al-Gharbiyye. Afterward, the group decided to leave the residence, with most of them driving in two cars towards the agricultural area, the three victims seated in the back of one of the vehicles. The victims were then shot in the head and upper body, and the car was immediately set ablaze with them inside. The perpetrators fled in another vehicle.

A bail request noted that Abu Smak remained silent during his interrogation. Approximately two weeks after the incident, he was reportedly overheard in a conversation about Hariri, one of the other involved parties, saying, "May God forgive him for what he did to them... he burned them... there are other things that if I tell you, your hair will stand on end."