BySARAH BEN-NUN

JULY 22, 2026 13:26

Updated: JULY 22, 2026 16:50

The Central District Court in Lod unanimously convicted Jason Blaze Odeh on Wednesday of the aggravated murder of Yelena Gerenberg. The panel ruled that he acquired a knife and gasoline two days earlier to carry out a deliberate scheme against his 27-year-old close friend.

A three-judge panel made up of Deputy Court President Ami Kobo along with Judges Michael Karshen and Merav Greenberg determined that Odeh killed Gerenberg on the night of August 24 2022 after growing increasingly angry over her repeated refusals to change their friendship into a romantic one.

Odeh confessed to stabbing Gerenberg to death yet denied the act qualified as aggravated murder. The main issue during trial centered on whether he had prepared the killing in advance or responded spontaneously due to claimed provocation and a disturbed mental condition.

The court rejected his entire account.

"The sum of his actions leaves no doubt that he planned her death ahead of time and desired her to die," Greenberg stated in the court's opinion.

Court convicts Jason Blaze Odeh of femicide

Odeh and Gerenberg connected via a mutual acquaintance in 2018 and grew especially close amid the COVID-19 pandemic. They shared considerable time together and often took trips.

Odeh often pursued a romantic bond with Gerenberg but she explained she regarded him as a brother the ruling noted.

The court determined he grew more frustrated by what he perceived as an unbalanced dynamic where she failed to reciprocate the affection and attention he offered.

Two days prior to the murder Odeh bought a folding knife featuring a 10-cm blade and filled two 1.5-liter bottles with gasoline at a station in Jaffa.

The knife remained open in the driver-side door of his car near his seat and hidden from Gerenberg's sight rendering it ready for immediate use the court found.

Odeh first misled investigators regarding when and where he obtained the knife asserting he had possessed it for over a month and used it during hiking excursions.

He acknowledged buying it two days before the murder only once investigators presented him with security-camera footage.

The judges also dismissed his assertion that he regularly transported gasoline for outings finding no credible reason he would require three liters of extra fuel for a scheduled trip to northern Israel.

On the day of the murder Odeh drove Gerenberg to the Peres Academic Center in Rehovot where she pursued studies in nutrition and later joined her at the Weizmann Institute of Science.

The pair had intended to head to Gerenberg's sister's residence that evening. Instead Odeh halted in a dark isolated area of the southern parking lot at the Rehovot train station.

He then withdrew the knife and stabbed Gerenberg at least 11 times in her neck back and chest.

Wounds on her hands indicated she had attempted to shield herself. Odeh kept stabbing despite her cries and resistance leaving her no chance of survival the court found.

Rather than summon emergency help or transport her to a hospital Odeh departed the parking lot shortly before 1 a.m. and proceeded to an isolated field near Rehovot.

He removed Gerenberg's body from the car positioned it behind a bush and doused it with three liters of gasoline. Her blood was later discovered on a box of matches in the car's trunk.

The court concluded Odeh had advanced to the next phase of his plan and meant to set Gerenberg's body on fire. For reasons unknown he did not light the gasoline.

The judges dismissed as "false and illogical" his statement that he poured gasoline over Gerenberg to check if she remained alive noting he had already stated he realized she had died while still inside the car.

Her body was found by a passerby at around 5 a.m. on August 25 2022.

While returning home Odeh disposed of Gerenberg's bag computer and telephone together with his own electronic devices. The items were never recovered.

The court found he had aimed to hide evidence including messages that might have offered more insight into their relationship and challenged his narrative.

After arriving home Odeh penned an apology letter to his mother and ingested dozens of painkillers in a bid to end his life.

At trial he asserted Gerenberg had insulted and struck him during their talk in the car triggering a "black screen" after which he awoke to find her dying as he gripped the knife.

The court determined the alleged slap and provocation had not been established. Even if Gerenberg had spoken sharply or insulted him the judges said it would fall far short of the legal standard needed to lessen his accountability for the killing.

Court rules Odeh solely responsible for brutal murder

The judges also rejected a defense psychiatric view suggesting Odeh had acted on impulse due to a personality disorder finding it depended heavily on his own unreliable statements and overlooked proof of prior preparation.

They instead endorsed the district psychiatrist's evaluation that Odeh was not psychotic grasped his actions and kept the ability to plan.

"The defendant bears sole responsibility for the murder" the court concluded. "The murder was cruel and merciless."

Prosecutors stated the conviction captured "the extreme gravity of the planned murder of a woman whose only 'offense' was declining to enter a romantic relationship with him."

Before Wednesday's decision Gerenberg's sister Nadya Aminov urged the public via the Michal Sela Forum to attend the hearing and support the family.

Aminov noted Gerenberg killed at 27 would now have been 31 and had aspired to become a clinical dietitian finish a master's degree marry and raise children.

Aminov who has since welcomed a daughter of her own wrote that every milestone came with the awareness her sister should have been present to share it.

"Do not allow Yelena to become just another name in a court file or another headline that faded" she wrote. "She was a whole world."

Arguments regarding Odeh's sentence are set for October 7 2026. Aggravated murder after planning or substantial deliberation requires a mandatory life sentence.