Israel filed a civil lawsuit on Thursday in Haifa Magistrate’s Court for about NIS 2m. against four terrorists from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine who kidnapped and murdered IDF soldier Moshe Tamam in 1984.
The suit was filed by the State Attorney’s Office on behalf of the Defense Ministry, with the aim of recovering for the state treasury and the public the payments the state has made, and continues to make, to Tamam’s bereaved parents, Galia and Eliyahu, for the financial damage caused by the terrorists’ actions.
This comes in addition to the life sentences imposed on them in the criminal proceedings in 1987.
Lawsuit filed against three living terrorists, next of kin for terrorist who died in prison
The lawsuit was filed against the convicted terrorists Ibrahim Abd al-Razzaq Biadsa, Ibrahim Naif Abu Much, and Saleh, formerly Rushdi Abu Much, as well as against the next of kin of terrorist Walid Nimer Asaad Decca, who was responsible for the cell and ordered Tamam’s murder. Decca died in 2024 while serving his sentence.
The four terrorists, who were then residents of Baka al-Gharbiya, kidnapped Tamam in August 1984 while he was waiting for a ride near Netanya. They bound him, covered his eyes, and held him for two days.
They then took him to an olive grove near Mevo Dotan, brutally murdered him after holding him for five days, and left him in the grove. As a result of their actions, the four were convicted of a series of offenses and sentenced to life in prison.
State asks court to have terrorists repay treasury for benefits paid to Tamam's parents
In the lawsuit, filed by attorney Einat Shtirman-Cohen of the Haifa District Attorney’s Office, the state is asking the court to order the terrorists to repay the state treasury for the benefits paid to Tamam’s bereaved parents under the Fallen Soldiers' Families Law, as well as for future payments the state will bear.
The suit argues that those who kidnapped and murdered Moshe Tamam and caused such profound loss to his family should bear the financial consequences of their actions, not the public as a whole.
The suit also says the terrorists’ actions reflect “a human and moral loss of direction, and harm to the protected social values of the sanctity of life and the integrity of body and soul.” It further states that the acts were severe and shocking, and are even more serious because of the nationalist motive behind them and because they were Israeli citizens.
The lawsuit also cites a passage from the sentence, in which the court wrote: “Before us is a horrifying act of murder, carried out by citizens of the state, born and raised in it, all while trying to give the act an allegedly political motive. Before us is an act of murder carried out in cold blood, with planning and premeditation, and the reason for his kidnapping and murder is the fact that he was an IDF soldier.”