Arab Sentenced to 35 Years for Stabbing Police Officers

A Yerushalayim court on Wednesday imposed a sentence of 35 years in prison on Ayman Kurd, a terrorist who stabbed two police officers in 2016. One of the officers sustained critical injuries, and is today paralyzed.

The attack occurred in September 2016 near the Old City, with the terrorist stabbing both his victims in the neck. According to police, Kurd, then 21, left his house in Kafr Aqab outside the city early in the morning and took a taxi to the Old City. After waiting for a few minutes – and posting his intentions on social media – he pulled out a large butcher knife that he had brought from home and discovered the two officers, who were on their way to the police station near the Flower Gate of the Old City.

Kurd approached the officers from behind, stabbing one in the neck and then the chest, and repeating the stabbing actions several times. When the first officer fell to the ground, he began stabbing the second one. Because of the aggressiveness of the stabbing, the knife broke off, leaving only the handle in Kurd’s hand. He was subdued when one of the injured officers shot and neutralized him.

Besides the jail term, Kurd was ordered to pay the paralyzed officer NIS 258,000, the largest penalty that could be imposed, as well as an additional NIS 70,000 to each officer.