Terrorist Stabber Charged With Attempted Murder Sentenced to 12 Years in Prison

A 19-year-old Arab was sentenced to 12 years in prison on charges of attempted murder in a stabbing attack in central Tel Aviv last year. The Arab, Amar Jandab, will also receive two years probation and a fine of NIS 40,000, a Tel Aviv court ruled Monday.

Jandab, a resident of the from the village of Salfit in Shomron, attacked passerby on Nachalat Yitzchak Street in Tel Aviv in June of 2016. On May 30 of that year, Jandab finished his work at a building site in Tel Aviv, and later that evening he went to Nachalat Yitzchak Street, near the Azrieli Center in Tel Aviv, and attacked an IDF soldier. He was ambushed by several passerby, some of whom beat him until police arrived and arrested him.

He told the court that his intention was to kill the soldier and be killed himself, in order to be remembered as a “martyr” and to have his family receive a pension from the Palestinian Authority. Jandab found a likely victim and pulled out a long screwdriver he had taken from his worksite, stabbing his victim in the head and back.

B’chasdei Shamayim, the soldier’s injuries were light, and passerby quickly neutralized Jandab, holding him until police arrived and took him into custody.

Speaking to Channel Ten, the parents of the soldier expressed disappointment over the sentence, saying it was too light. “There are precedents in the law for a criminal of this type to get a harsher sentence,” they said. “We intend to appeal this sentence and demand justice. He deserves no less than life in prison.”