Uriah Cohen, 38, a Yitzhar resident, was indicted on Thursday over a June 6 incident in Huwara, in the northern West Bank, in which prosecutors say he blocked a Palestinian vehicle, pointed an assault rifle at its occupants, and fired into the air.
The prosecution asked the Petah Tikva Magistrate’s Court to detain Cohen until the end of proceedings. He is charged with firing a weapon in a residential area in a manner endangering life, threats, reckless and negligent acts, obstruction of justice, and being an accessory after the fact.
According to the indictment, Cohen and a co-owner of the flock identified as Yakir called on people from the area to help locate sheep after the animals left Tzafnat Farm, an agricultural outpost near Tapuah Junction.
An April Peace Now analysis, based on reports of a March 25 Security Cabinet decision that was not formally published, listed Tzafnat among West Bank outposts slated for retroactive authorization.
The defendant pointed his weapon at occupants of another car
At about 10:37 a.m., prosecutors said, Cohen drove into Huwara with an unidentified masked man. Both were armed with assault rifles. Cohen allegedly then swerved into the path of a Hyundai Tucson with Palestinian registration plates, blocking it and causing the vehicle to hit his car.
Cohen and the masked man then got out, ordered its occupants to leave, and pointed their weapons at the vehicle to frighten them, the indictment said.
Cohen allegedly fired into the air. As the Hyundai fled, the masked man allegedly fired toward it.
The indictment says Yakir later arrived at the scene on a quad bike with an unidentified passenger wearing the upper part of a military uniform and a military helmet. Other unidentified people arrived on foot.
Yakir is not among the people whom the indictment alleges carried out the assault that followed.
The sheep search quickly devolved into assault
According to the charge sheet, the people who arrived on foot and the helmeted passenger approached another Hyundai carrying two Huwara residents and ordered them out. They allegedly opened the doors and pulled the two men from the vehicle.
The group, joined by the masked man who had arrived with Cohen, then allegedly beat the two men with fists, a club, and a rifle butt.
One man suffered bleeding in the brain, fractures around his right eye and cheek, and cuts to his face, and was hospitalized in intensive care, according to the indictment. The second man was also injured. Both were left lying on the road.
Footage shows Cohen collecting shell casings from the scene
Cohen is not charged with carrying out the beating. The indictment says he pulled the helmeted passenger away while he was punching one of the victims.
Prosecutors allege that Cohen later collected shell casings from the road. The masked man and the helmeted passenger then got into Cohen’s car, and Cohen drove them away, passing the two injured men as they lay on or beside the road, according to the indictment.
The detention request says the state has security-camera footage, a bystander’s phone recording, testimony from soldiers posted in the area, medical records, and statements from the victims.
It says the footage shows Cohen stopping the first vehicle, bending down to pick something up from the roadway, pulling the helmeted man away from one victim, and leaving with the masked and helmeted men.
The prosecution said Cohen acknowledged being at the scene and identified himself in the security footage, but gave what it described as contradictory explanations for stopping the first vehicle. It said he did not identify the masked man who was with him or other people at the scene.
Kan reported that an IDF debrief found that the flock had escaped after the pen gate was left unsecured, rather than having been stolen. That finding is not part of the indictment.
Cohen’s lawyers at Honenu rejected the allegations, saying he believed the sheep had been stolen and acted in self-defense.