Palestinian teens indicted in Rosh Hashanah rock-throwing death

JERUSALEM  (JTA) — Five Palestinian teens suspected of involvement in a Rosh Hashanah eve rock attack that left a Jewish-Israeli man dead were charged with manslaughter.

The Jerusalem District Prosecutor’s Office on Thursday announced the charges of manslaughter, aggravated battery, risking a person’s life on a public road, aggravated obstruction of justice, arson and weapons manufacturing, Ynet reported. The teens are all from eastern Jerusalem and have Israeli identification cards.

Alexander Levlovich, 64, died hours after his car was pelted with rocks in the eastern Jerusalem neighborhood of Armon Hanatziv. The rocks smashing into his car caused Levlovich, who was returning home from a holiday dinner, to lose control of the vehicle and smash into a pole. The teens reportedly then fled the scene. They admitted under questioning to throwing the rocks.

Levlovich’s son, Nir, told Ynet that the family is “stunned” that the teens were not charged with murder, since they believe the teens meant to kill the driver.

Also Thursday, Israel notified the families of the Hamas-affiliated cell in the West Bank city of Nablus accused of killing an Israeli couple in their car  that their homes will soon be demolished. The families can challenge the demolition order in court.

Israel’s Security Cabinet this week ordered expedited home demolitions as part of a package of measures passed to tamp down the current spate of terror attacks by Palestinians against Israelis.

During questioning, the accused cell members reportedly said that after they opened fire on the car carrying Eitam and Naama Henkin and their four young children, they left their vehicle and fired on the couple at close range.

Also Thursday, Israel’s interior minister, Silvan Shalom, informed the Attorney General’s Office that he plans to revoke the citizenship of two Arab-Israelis involved in terror attacks in the past two weeks.