The military court in Judea on Wednesday acquitted terrorist Hamza Faiz, a resident of Hebron, of the charge of attempted murder, by reason of inconclusive evidence, convicting him instead of causing aggravated injury to his victim, a Jewish woman he stabbed in her back at the Gush Etzion junction two and a half years ago, Honenu reported.
Shouting, “Allahu Akbar,” the terrorist, Hamza, ran up with a raised knife to his victim, Nirit Zmora, in the parking lot adjoining the junction, and stabbed her in the back, injuring her severely. As noted above, the military court judges – Lt. Col. Zvi Heilbron, Lt. Col. Eti Adar, and Major Haim Balilty – acquitted the terrorist of the charge of intent to commit murder, and convicted him of intentional sabotage in aggravated circumstances, and possession of a knife.
“To be precise,” the judges ruled, “the mere existence of a nationalist motive for the execution of the stabbing does not necessarily suggest, on its own merit, that the intention was to bring about the death of the victim.”
“Even when a stabbing offense is committed against a nationalistic background, it is necessary to establish the existence of an intention to kill,” the judges continued, “And when it is doubtful whether there was an interest in intentionally killing or [only] deliberately causing the injury, the doubt favors the defendant. This was our approach in this case.”
When the heard the verdict, the victim, Nirit Zmora, and her family members began to shout in the courtroom that the defendant was a murderer.
Zmora reacted harshly to the verdict, telling Honenu, whose attorney Haim Bleicher counseled her throughout the case: “A few minutes ago we went home and we’re unable to calm down. Our feeling is that [the verdict showed] contempt for Jewish blood. It is clear to any reasonable person, even based on the available facts, that the terrorist tried to murder [me], there is no question here.”
“For two and a half years now, I have been walking around with a knife in my back,” she continued. “My family and I have been coping with the heavy consequences on a daily basis. Our feeling today is that the court judges held the knife, a knife in all our hearts, a knife in the hearts of all the families who are affected by terrorism, and, Heaven forbid, the next victims who seek the auspices of this court.
“We expected the court to issue a clear and unequivocal statement that the court in the State of Israel does not lend a hand to the murder of Jews, but, unfortunately, this is not what happened here.”
The victim’s son, Yedidya, posted on his Facebook page: “Today, on the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day, when we commemorate the murder of Jews only because of their Jewishness – Judges of the Israel Defense Forces do not recognize the attempted murder of a Jewish woman merely because of her Jewishness.”
“My mother did not exchange blows with some cad,” he wrote, “my mother was the victim of attempted murder with nationalistic motives.”