On Wednesday the Jerusalem District Court sentenced Ahmed Nasla, a resident of East Jerusalem, to twenty-seven years in prison, after he was convicted of two attempted murders on nationalist grounds in the village of Hizma three years ago.

In addition to the actual imprisonment, he was sentenced to a suspended prison sentence and financial compensation to the victims of the crime.

According to the verdict, Nasla arrived in Hizma armed with a knife, with the intention of murdering a Jew. He jumped at one of the victims and tried to slit his throat, but a nearby business owner came to his aid and the terrorist fled.

The next day, he returned to the scene, armed with another knife, and again tried to murder another Jew, using the same method. In both cases, the victims managed to survive, but were significantly injured.

The State Attorney's Office claimed that these were serious terror attacks, which were planned with a clear mind and with the intention of performed an attack with a clear ideological-nationalist motive. Attorney Jenny Avni, of the Jerusalem District Attorney's Office, emphasized that these were attacks that were carried out day after day, with the defendant making a conscious choice to search for Jews and to try to murder them in a cruel act.

The State Attorney's Office requested to sentence Nasla to forty years in prison, but the court settled for twenty-seven years, a suspended sentence and compensation for the victims.

"The defendant's actions are shocking," the judges ruled in the verdict. "He approached those who did nothing to him and tried to slit their throats, just because they are Jews. This is attempted murder, that is life-threatening, shocking and humiliating to the victim."