Palestinian Sentenced to 17 Years for Stabbing Israeli Soldier

A Palestinian terrorist who stabbed an Israeli soldier at the central bus station in Yerushalayim last year was sentenced to 17 years in prison on Wednesday, according to local media reports.

Said Komboz, a resident of the Old City, was also ordered to pay the soldier 50,000 shekels ($13,000) in compensation for the attack, in which he was lightly wounded.

Komboz confessed to the attack as part of a plea deal, but the judge wrote in his verdict that he 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.

Meanwhile, the Palestinian district of Tulkarem, near Netanya, named a local school after a leader of the infamous Black September terrorist organization.

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s spokesperson Ofir Gendelman accused the Palestinian Authority of “glorification of terrorists” for naming a school in Tulkarem after Salah Khalaf.

The district governor defied Israeli criticism of the decision, terming it “delusional.”

Black September made its name in blood during the early 1970s with hijackings and assassinations. The group carried out the murder of 11 Israeli athletes during the Munich Olympics in 1972.

According to the Israeli watchdog group Palestinian Media Watch, this was the fourth PA school named after Khalaf.