In practice, the clear impression is that Udai, who confirmed that he was very close to the defendant, and that they were in daily contact by phone, even during the period of the defendant's arrest [ibid., at p. 205], sought to assist in the defense of his friend and cousin by giving a suppressed and false version, which directly contradicts his statements to the police and significant parts of the defendant's own version. Therefore, I categorically reject Udai's testimony, in all its components.
It remains to address briefly the testimony of the other cousin, 'Abd al-Hadi, who was also arrested with the defendant and Udai on 29 August 2022. Abed was also interrogated by the police four times, claimed memory problems and denied any connection to the acts. Abed also confirmed that the defendant is a good friend of his and that they were talking during the detention period as well. Unlike 'Udai, there was no allegation of his involvement in the events preceding the day of his arrest, and therefore his testimony relates only to this date, and includes another attempt to include the name of the late Samer, Abed's brother, as the person who headed the activity. However, for reasons similar to those brought above in the case of 'Udai, and with regard to the defendant himself, no confidence can be placed in Abed's version as well, and I will reason.
As noted, Abed was interrogated after his arrest on four different occasions, and not only did he not mention Samer's name, but he denied any involvement in connection with Mitsubishi, despite the solid evidence that was hurled at him. In the first interrogation, he said that he was living in Turkey, against the background of threats against his family, and that he had visited Israel about 10 days before his arrest. According to him, on the day of his arrest, he was walking around with his cousins Ayman and Odai, and when they were arrested, they were just walking around Tel Aviv. He denied the presence of the license plates in the Mazda, denied involvement in dismantling the license plates, denied familiarity with the Mitsubishi and the tow truck, did not remember his actions on the day of the murder and claimed that he had memory problems, but did not see a doctor [P/179A]. In the next interrogation as well, he maintained a similar policy, emphasized the memory problem that required treatment, and denied that he was in a Mitsubishi and that he had touched the fake license plates [P/179B]. His denials continued even when he was accused of laboratory findings that found his fingerprints on the dismantled license plates seized in Mazda. He also denied the claim that he drove a Mitsubishi from the parking lot to the place of towing [P/179C]. He did the same when he was shown the video in which he was seen changing the license plates, with the assistance of the defendant [P/179D].