Terrorist who stabbed woman in Gush Etzion gets 14 years
The military court sentences Hamza Faiz to 14 years in prison for attacking Nirit Zmora with a knife in October 2015 and seriously wounding her; three months earlier, the court convicted him of aggravated battery and not attempted murder; Zmora after sentencing: 'Jewish blood is not important.'
Hamza Faiz, a terrorist from Hebron who stabbed and seriously wounded Nirit Zmora at a parking lot at the Gush Etzion Junction two and a half years ago, was sentenced on Monday to 14 years in prison.
The terrorist will have to pay his victim NIS 500,000 in compensation.
In October 2015, Faiz attacked Zmora with a knife, while shouting "Allahu Akbar." Initially, Zmora's condition was defined as moderate, but it deteriorated once she arrived at the Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem.
The media storm surrounding the trial started nearly three months ago, when judges Lt. Col. Zvi Heilbron, Lt. Col. Eti Adar, and Maj. Haim Balilty acquitted the terrorist of attempted murder, determining it was not possible to prove he had intended to murder Zmora, and convicted him instead of aggravated battery and of the illegal possession of a knife.
“It was a single knife stab. It’s unusual for courts to convict of murder or attempted murder in case of one single knife stab, even if it results in a victim’s death. The reason for this lies in the difficulty of determining whether the intent was murder or injury,” the judges wrote in the summary.
Zmora expressed her feelings on the possible sentencing before it was read. "I will come to court without expectations, I just want the judges to look me in the eye,” she said.
Attorney Haim Bleicher from the National Legal Defense Organization, who accompanied the family, criticized the decision to not convict Faiz of attempted murder.
"Just seeing the terrorist's smile when he heard the sentence was enough to understand the magnitude of the failure and the lack of deterrence," he exclaimed.
As soon as the verdict was read, Zmora and her family started a commotion at court.
"We feel Jewish blood is not important," Zmora said. "It is clear to all reasonable people that the terrorist tried to murder me, and this is not a question, and for the past two and a half years, I have been living with a knife in my back. I am disappointed in our legal system, especially in this panel of judges,” she complained.
In April 2018, on the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day, Zmora's son published a post on Facebook also criticizing the decision not to convict the terrorist of attempted murder.
"Today, on the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day, when we commemorate the murder of Jews solely because of their religion, judges of the Israel Defense Forces refuse to recognize the attempted murder of a Jewish woman solely because of her religion. The testimonies say, he (the terrorist) ran up to my mother with a knife shouting 'Allah Akbar.' What do they think he intended to do?” he wrote in his post.
