Car thief who "volunteered" in Be'eri after 10/7 gets harsher sentence: "Recognized the chaos as an opportunity"
The Be'er Sheva District Court increased by two years the sentence of Guy Haddad, a towing company owner from Rishon LeZion, who stole vehicles from Kibbutz Be'eri after the October 7 massacre. Haddad was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison after arriving at a volunteer center that assisted soldiers and survivors, exploiting the chaos to steal cars and sell them in the Palestinian Authority. The prosecution appealed the original lenient sentence.
The Be'er Sheva District Court this morning (Thursday) increased the sentence of Guy Haddad (44), a towing company owner from Rishon LeZion, who stole vehicles from Kibbutz Be'eri after the October 7 massacre. Haddad was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison, after the Magistrate's Court had imposed only five and a half years. The prosecution appealed the lenient sentence, arguing it does not reflect the public's revulsion at his actions. Haddad arrived at a volunteer center established after the massacre to assist soldiers and civilians with logistical tasks, but together with a tow truck driver named Israel Amram, he instructed him to locate vehicles in Be'eri, steal them, and transfer them to his company's lot, to sell them in the Palestinian Authority. Among the stolen vehicles were cars belonging to survivors of the massacre and to freed hostage Eli Sharabi, who only learned of the theft upon returning from captivity. The district judges ruled that Haddad committed property crimes while exploiting the chaos that gripped the country, and the verdict stated: "While a spirit of volunteering, unity, and solidarity gripped the nation's citizens, the defendant chose a different path after recognizing the national chaos as a cynical business opportunity." The prosecution described Haddad as an "enemy from within" who exploited the trust of key personnel on site.