Palestinian terrorist who stabbed Jerusalem guard gets 22 years

A Palestinian terrorist convicted of the attempted murder in December 2017 of a Jerusalem security guard is sentenced Monday to 22 years in prison and ordered to pay NIS 200,000 ($55,000) in compensation to his victim.

In its ruling, the Jerusalem District Court notes that Yasin Abu al-Qar’a’s stabbing of Asher Elmaliach was an act of premeditated terrorism “extreme in its severity.”

Al-Qar’a, 25, from Wadi al-Fara outside Nablus, “decided to carry out a stabbing attack in Jerusalem in protest at the American recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital” on December 6, 2017.

Graphic video footage from the scene of the attack four days later, on December 10, at the Jerusalem Central Bus Station showed al-Qar’a slowly handing his belongings to security supervisor Elmaliach, 47, who was helping other guards check travelers at the door to the station, before suddenly taking out a knife and plunging it into the guard’s chest.