Palestinian gets 17 years for stabbing soldier in Jerusalem

East Jerusalem resident also ordered to pay $13,000 to victim, who was lightly injured in attack last year

By ToI Staff 26 October 2016, 5:55 pm

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Said Komboz arrives to the Jerusalem District court on October 26, 2016. Komboz was sentenced to 17 years in prison after he stabbed an Israeli soldier near the central bus station in Jerusalem last year. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

The Jerusalem District Court on Tuesday sentenced a Palestinian man to 17 years in prison for stabbing and lightly wounding an Israeli soldier in Jerusalem last year.

Said Komboz, a resident of Jerusalem’s Old City, was also ordered to pay the soldier NIS 50,000 ($13,000) in compensation for the attack last December at the central bus station in Jerusalem, according to Army Radio.

Komboz confessed to the attack as part of a plea deal, but the judge wrote in his verdict that Komboz was still given a severe sentence in “the interest of public safety” and in order to discourage “this murderous ideology.”

The judge also noted that Komboz has expressed no regret for his actions.

October 2015 marked the start of several months of near-daily Palestinian terrorism and violence during which at least 34 Israelis were killed. Over 200 Palestinians were also killed during that time, most of them attackers or involved in clashes with troops, according to Israeli authorities.