Sunday, June 21, 2015, 20:16 Honenu has started a legal struggle to convince the Attorney
Victim’s jacket, note the exact site of the knife wound; Photo credit: Honenu
General’s office to change the charges against the terrorist who carried out a stabbing attack in Jerusalem on the eve of Shavuot from aggravated assault to attempted murder.
On May 24, 2015, near Sha’ar Shechem (Damascus Gate) in Jerusalem, a terrorist stabbed two Jewish youths, both minors, who were on their way to Shavuot holiday midnight prayers. Despite the fact that the terrorist had equipped himself ahead of time with a 30 centimeter long knife and stabbed one of the Jews in the back (see photo) the Attorney General’s office decided not to charge him with attempted murder, but rather with aggravated assault. The difference between the customary penalties for the two crimes is significant, and therefore the terrorist is likely to receive a light penalty.
Honenu attorney Menasheh Yado, who is representing one of the youths as a crime victim, turned to Jerusalem District Attorney Nurit Litman and demanded that the charge be changed to attempted murder: “We reason that the facts and the circumstances detailed in the indictment clearly indicate the crime of attempted murder,” wrote Yado. “The defendant bought a knife with a 30 cm. blade and in the middle of the night stabbed two Jews, both of them minors. In the case of my client the stab wound was approximately one centimeter from his spinal cord and lungs. It is obvious that the defendant had the intent to murder. That he did not succeed does not overshadow his intent.
“This was not a personal criminal act, but rather a nationalistically motivated terror attack which has direct ramifications on the feeling of security of the general population in Israel and of the population of Jerusalem specifically, all the more so because of the sensitive security situation at this time,” added Yado in a letter which was sent before the attack today (June 21) at Sha’ar Shechem in which a border policeman was stabbed and seriously injured.
“The Attorney General’s office is showing weakness in the face of repeated terrorist attacks in Jerusalem,” said Yado. “The stabbing attack today is the painful result of the Attorney General’s office’s refraining from charging the terrorist who stabbed Jewish youths on the eve of Shavuot with attempted murder,” said Honenu attorney Menasheh Yado.