The High Court rejected the appeal filed by two Lahat residents who were found guilty of trafficking in weapons and maintained a long prison sentence

The Supreme Court called on the judicial system to strengthen penalties for crimes related to the arms trade.

The court issued an appeal on Sunday, deciding to dismiss the appeal of two residents of the Bedouin town of Rahat, who were convicted of arms trading. One of them was sentenced to 10 years in prison and the other was sentenced to 8 and a half years. The Supreme Court judges wrote in their judgment, “The universality of the phenomenon and its destructive consequences require the use of the entire judicial system, including other measures to ensure severe and deterrent punishment.”

In February last year, the Beer Sheva District Court ruled in a plea agreement that Bashir Abu Ziad purchased thousands of M-16 and Mag machine gun bullets and M-16 rifle parts. Later, Abziad sold them to different people in Hebron for thousands of shekels. Hady Abu Zayed was convicted of selling M-16 bullets to Abu Ziad and, in some cases, drove with Abu Ziad to Hebron to sell the ammunition to others. He was also convicted of selling ammunition to different people in Nablus and possessing a telescope sight and laser marker in his Rahat home.

The two argued in their appeal that the district court’s verdict greatly exceeded the usual punishment for their crimes. They also argued that the district court did not fully admit their early admission of guilt and agreed to testify for the prosecution. In their view, these situations should be taken seriously, especially when Abu Zayed surrendered his weapons to the police.

The Supreme Court judge ruled that the district court succeeded in balancing the mitigating circumstances with the appellant’s criminal history, parole service review, and the need for deterrence. They ruled that they did not find "any error in this balancing task, which requires our intervention."

The judges also pointed out that legislators have instituted severe penalties for the crimes for which the two were convicted. “It is the highest order of public interest to eradicate the illegal possession of weapons, and it is also a necessary condition for combating illegal militants. Various violent crimes are involved. The prevalence among us, the well-known swamp drying up, allowed these phenomena to develop."