Ra'anana, Israel Photo: Wikipedia.

A Lod District Court sentenced Beit Furik resident Otman Nas’ara, 46, to 44 months in prison for poisoning several members of a Jewish family in Ra’anana as well as a volunteer policeman, Israel’s Channel 10 reported on Monday. At the time of his arrest the perpetrator said he was motivated by “hatred of Jews.”

The incident occurred in 2011 when the Lerner family hired Nas’ara to renovate the exterior of their Ra’anana home. One day in October, upon returning to his apartment, the family’s patriarch realized that it had been broken in to. A short while later, his wife and two young sons also arrived and the Lerners called the police to report the burglary.

Soon thereafter, police officers arrived on the scene. At some point Mr. Lerner, a police volunteer, two children, and their visiting grandmother drank from various bottles of juice in the apartment.

Shortly after drinking from the assorted beverages, family members and the volunteer policeman fell ill. They were immediately evacuated by Magen David Adom to Meir Hospital in Kfar Saba, where they were diagnosed with food poisoning.

Mr. Lerner required intensive care and was hospitalized in serious condition while the rest of the family members and the officer were treated for milder cases of food poisoning.

Nas’ara was then tracked down and arrested by the IDF and Israeli Police. During the operation, the security detail which entered the Palestinian-Arab village of Beit Furik was pelted with stones. In a search of the suspect’s home dangerous pesticides were found.

A few days after the incident, Nas’ara confessed to poisoning the Lerner family. During the investigation he demonstrated to law enforcement officials how he entered the Lerners’ home, contaminated their food and drink and stole items from their property.