The Judea military court on Tuesday sentenced Waal al-Arjeh to two life sentences, plus 58 years for the murder of Asher Palmer, 25, and his infant son, Yonatan by throwing a stone through the front windshield of their car.
In a series of heart-rending moments leading up to the court's decision, Asher's father, Michael Palmer spoke to the court about his son and grandson, including when he arrived at the family's home to see "a gurney with Asher's body wrapped in a tallit (prayer shawl), and a little box on top, in the box was Yonatan's body."
Michael at one point gestured toward al-Arjeh when talking about how difficult it was for him to speak about the tragedy while "the murderer is sitting here in court."
Al-arjeh for his part appeared unexpectedly calm before the hearing and when the lawyers were speaking, cracking jokes with his supporters, but turned ashen-red and appeared teary eyed and tense when Michael was speaking about the loss of Asher.
The Palmer family's lawyer, Adrian Aggasi, said that at future hearings the family would seek around NIS 10 million in damages.
Al-arjeh's and his lawyer remained largely silent, saying they would save their arguments for an appeal to the military court of appeals.
Al-arjeh was convicted of the murder of Asher and Yonatan on April 2.
According to the IDF, Arjeh and an accomplice, Ali Saadeh, had intentionally thrown a stone from a moving taxi through the front windshield of Asher's vehicle.
The stone broke the front windshield, caused Asher to lose control of the car and eventually caused the car to overturn.
Initially, security forces thought Palmer and his son died in a car accident on Route 60 outside the Kiryat Arba settlement on September 23. It took days before the Defense Ministry recognized them as terror victims.
According to the court, this was not an incident in which a random small roadside stone was tossed.
The object thrown at Asher's vehicle was large and deadly.
Agassi, a former IDF military court judge, said that, “It was thrown from an oncoming vehicle that was traveling in the opposite direction.
"At that velocity, it was like shooting a bullet,” Agassi said.
Arjeh was the ringleader of a gang that developed this method to kill Jews, Agassi said. They had tried it many times before, he added. The attorney said the defendant had worked for the Palestinian Authority security forces and as a taxi driver, and knew the area roads very well.
Leading up to the court sentence, Michael also talked about an enduring picture in his mind he has of "Asher, Asher's wife Pua, and their son Yonatan sitting together on Shabbat" and of the "tremendous love between the father and the son."
He noted that "Yonatan, like his dad, loved to smile, to be happy and he was just starting to talk – that is when al-arjeh killed him."
Next, Michael mentioned that Pua had named the couple's still-living child, who was still in utero when Asher was killed, Orit, because that was the name that Asher had told her he wanted before he was murdered.
Michael said that Asher and Yontan's lives "were taken by people who did not know the, who had never even seen them, for the simple reason that they were Jews."
The IDF prosecution added that at least until later proceedings, al-arjeh had "expressed no regret" and had "tried to cover up his role" in the crime as well as that after the attack on the Palmers he "carried out more attacks."
A verdict has yet to be issued in the case against Saadeh.