The Be’er Sheva District Court has found Yuval Kahan and Aviv Bar-David, leaders of the Bnei Zion Premilitary Academy, guilty of negligent manslaughter in the deaths of ten individuals and negligent injury in the cases of two others. The charges stem from their accountability for the Tzafit River tragedy, where ten academy students lost their lives.

The court ruling noted: “There remains reasonable doubt that Yuval internalized Aviv’s messages about entering Tzafit. Yuval was disconnected from the group for 13 hours. The first time he spoke with Aviv after their conversation was after the disaster.”

The judgment further criticized Yuval’s lack of response: “Even when he understood there was a potential danger, Yuval did not contact Aviv directly and did not check where he had gone. Yuval’s behavior on the day of the disaster indicates that he disappeared and went silent. He did not respond as an academy head should, as he said in his testimony. He did not conduct any relevant inquiry when he learned about the hikers in the river. He failed to identify the danger after receiving notice at 11:30 that it would start drizzling by noon, despite knowing the risks involved.”

Following the verdict, the courtroom was filled with emotional reactions. Many of the parents of the victims wept openly and expressed frustration that the conviction was for negligent manslaughter, rather than reckless homicide as sought by the prosecution.

Hadar Alfie, whose son Tzur was one of the ten victims, shared her pain with Kan News: “Despair. There are no other words to describe the terrible feeling. How was it decided they weren’t aware of the danger? What happened here?”

The flood disaster occurred in April 2018, claiming the lives of ten young people during a hike in the Tzafit River. The victims were identified as Agam Levi, Ilan Bar Shalom, Ela Or, Gali Balali, Maayan Berhom, Tzur Alfie, Romi Cohen, Shani Shamir, Yael Sadan, and Adi Reanan.

{Matzav.com Israel}