A Defense Ministry spokesman announced on Thursday, that the victim of a rape which occurred in May 2012 in Gan Ha'ir parking lot would be recognized as a victim of a enemy act.

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The rape occurred in May 2012 when the girl and her 17-year-old boyfriend entered the Gan Ha'ir parking lot, where their car was parked, at around 3:30 am. The attacker ambushed the two and threatened them with a blunt object, forcing them into a nearby public bathroom, where he raped and abused them.

In June of 2013 a Tel Aviv District Court sentenced 21-year-old Palestinian Ahmed Bani Jaber to 30 years in prison after he was convicted of raping the teenage girl at a parking garage in the city's Gan Ha'ir shopping mall.

As part of a plea agreement, Bani Jaber pleaded guilty to multiple counts of aggravated rape and aggravated sodomy. The assault on a teenage couple took place in the Gan Ha'ir parking garage's restroom over several hours.

Ahmed Bani Jaber (Photo: Shaul Golan)

The victim submitted a request to the Defense Ministry in March stating that the violent attack, which was committed by a Palestinian who was in Israel illegally, should be recognized as a "violent attack."

At the court also ordered Jaber, a Nablus resident who had been living in Israeli illegally, to pay the complainant and her boyfriend NIS 250,000 ($69,000) each in restitution.

The punishment was the maximum range for sexual related criminal offenses and considered one of the most severe penalties ever meted out for rape in Israel.

In their ruling, the judges said the defendant "trampled over society's values," adding that his actions constituted a "lethal blow the values of human dignity." The judges called the defendant's actions "sadistic" and "despicable."

A supreme court ruling later reduced the sentence to 25 years. At the time, the prosecution said it had found no evidence of a nationalist motive in the rape, contrasting the decision taken by the Defense Ministry today.

The approval is the second case in which a rape victim is recognized as victim of an enemy action. The suspect in the previous case made declarations as to the difference between his respectable sister and the Jewish girl who walked the streets, as well as claims that Jews did not belong on this land.