Hebron stabber of Jewish woman convicted only of assault
Court rules that Hamza Faiz's intention to kill could not be determined, even though he stabbed Nirit Zimora two years ago in the back while screaming 'Allahu Akbar', leaving her in serious condition; Family: 'What do you think he intended to do?'
A West Bank military court acquitted a Palestinian resident of Hebron Wednesday of the attempted murder of Israeli woman Nirit Zimora, charging him instead with aggravated assault.
The court ruled that Hamza Faiz, who stabbed Zimora in the back and seriously wounded her at the Gush Etzion Junction two-and-a-half years ago, only tried to injure her and not kill her.
Hamza rushed at her shouting Allahu Akbar (God is great) then stabbed her once. The military judges, Lt. Col Zvi Heilborn, Lt. Col. Itai Adar and Maj. Chaim Balilti, also convicted him of knife possession, but they ruled that there was no evidence that he planned to kill Nirit.
“It is rare that a court convicts a defendant of murder or attempted murder for only one stabbing, even if it killed the victim,” the judges wrote. “The reason is the difficulty in proving that the intent was to kill. Because the handle of the knife broke, the defendant was unable to further stab the victim."
They also referred to the location of the stab wound saying the fact that it was in the back and not the chest raises doubts regarding the terrorist’s intent to kill.
In conclusion, the judges wrote, “Even in a case of a stabbing on nationalistic grounds, intent to kill must be established and once there is a doubt, it is to the defendant’s benefit. So this is what we have ruled.”
As soon as the ruling was delivered, Zimora and her family began to shout in protest. “We feel that Jewish blood has been cheapened,” Zimora said. “It is clear to all, based on the facts, that the terrorist tried to kill. There is no doubt.
"For two years already I have been walking around with a ‘knife in my back,’ my family and I are coping with this every day and the consequences are dire. It feels like the judges are holding the knife, the knife which is in all of us, in the hearts of the families of all terror victims,” the victim vented.
She said that she had expected the court to be explicitly clear that they “do not tolerate the murder of Jews, but that was not the case unfortunately.”
Her son Yedidya, also protested the verdict on Facebook. “Today, on the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day, when we commemorate the murder of Jews purely because of their Jewishness, the judges of the Israel Defense Forces do not recognize the attempted murder of a Jewish woman merely because of her Jewishness," he lamented.
"According to witnesses, he ran to my mother with a knife raised, shouting ‘Allahu Akbar.’ What do you think he intend to do?!" he asked.
Attorney Haim Bleicher of the Honenu organization, which is assisting Zimora and her family in her legal battle, also slammed the court decision.
"It is inconceivable that the judges separate the nationalist intent and the abominable act. A terrorist who stabs a Jew—the mental element is clear. His intention was to murder, the attroney said.
"Acquitting the perpetrator of attempted murder constitutes contempt for the victim and contempt for the existential struggle with which the citizens of Israel cope. We will act so that the military prosecution appeals the verdict and that the injustice is corrected."
