Israeli Arab convicted for 2017 murder of Sgt. Ron Kokia

The Beer Sheva District Court on Tuesday convicted an Arab resident of the Negev, Khaled Abu Jada, for the terrorist murder of the Nahal Brigade soldier Ron Kokia in Arad in 2017 and conspiracy to commit a crime. According to the indictment, Abu Jada and his half-brother Zahi had deliberately set out to harm an Israeli soldier. They had conducted surveillance in the Arad region of southern Israel in search of a target. The indictment showed that Abu Jada had watched Hamas videos, was impressed by its operations and had published posts on Facebook praising Allah and Islam. Ron Kokia’s father, Boaz, said the family sought the death sentence for the killer. “This was not a private vendetta,” he said, “but a a necessary deterrent since terrorism affects us all.”