The Nazareth District Court on Tuesday morning sentenced terrorist Tarek Yehia, 20, from Jenin, to 17 and a half years in prison for stabbing the soldier Dvir Peretz more than a year ago in Afula, causing him severe injuries. The prosecution had asked for 18 to 20 years.
The indictment against Yehia charged him with planning to kill a Jew and going on social networks to seek directions how to get to Afula. Yehia confessed to his interrogators that he decided to carry out a murder after having watched a video showing a Jewish settler cocking his gun and pointing it at an Arab woman.
Yehia then asked a resident of the Israeli-Arab city of Umm al-Fahm to drive him to Afula, claiming he had to get to a meeting there. The driver, 52, has been indicted for driving an illegal resident. After disembarking at the entrance to Afula, Yehia toured the place and sat down in a public park. There he saw his victim, Peretz, and stabbed him in his upper body.
Yehia continued stabbing the soldier even after the latter had collapsed to the ground. Passersby managed to get hold of the terrorist and controlled him until police arrived.