Ra'anana terrorist sentenced to 21 years in prison
Sentenced to more than two decades behind bars and fined for tens of thousands of shekels after attempting to murder four civilians in a 2015 terror attack in Ra'anana, Khaled Basti shows no remorse for his actions or empathy towards his victims.
The Jerusalem District Court on Thursday sentenced 30-year-old Khaled Basti, from east Jerusalem, to 21 years in prison for stabbing four Israelis in a terror attack in Ra'anana in October 2015.
The judges also ruled that he would compensate each of his victims with tens of thousands of shekels, paying NIS 80,000 to the victim most seriously wounded in his attack.
Judge Ruth Lorch, head of the judges' panel, noted that Basti "harmed four innocent civilians who happened to be at the site," assessing that—should Basti be free—there is "a high risk of a recurrence" of the attack.
"The attempted murder was not carried out by the defendant out of a state of recklessness or a momentary fury. He planned his actions and intended to murder a Jew out of a national-ideological motive," she added.
"One must take into account the defendant's inability to show any empathy towards the victims of the offenses."
Lorch concluded her remarks by reminding that although Basti was seriously injured in the attack, his injuries were a direct result of efforts by security forces to neutralize him, made particularly forceful due to his attempts to kill them as well. As such, it was given little weighs in the verdict.
The attack occurred at the height of the 2015 wave of terror. On October 13, Basti, intent on murdering Jews and becoming a martyr, took a serrated knife and went to Jerusalem Street in Ra'anana. There, he walked up to a bus stop and began to stab civilians in a frenzy.
He stabbed his first victim three times—in the head, shoulder, and neck—with the blade of the knife eventually snapping and becoming stuck in his victim's wound. With the part of the knife that remained in his hands, he attacked and injured three other people until civilians and policemen who chased him down managed to neutralize him.
Two young men who witnessed the attack recounted: "We saw the terrorist stabbing an elderly man standing at the station, and immediately realized that this was a terror attack and shouted, 'Terrorist, terrorist.'
He left the knife and began to flee from the scene toward Ahuza Street. We chased after him and then he drew another, smaller knife, and kept trying to stab us. We shouted to nearby drivers to help us and then they detained him."
As part of his plea bargain with the prosecution, Basti confessed and was convicted for attempted murder and for three counts of aggravated assault.
