A Jewish Israeli man was sentenced today to 11 years in prison for stabbing another Jewish man whom he believed to be an Arab in October 2015, reported the Times of Israel. Shlomo Pinto was convicted of attempted murder for the stabbing of Uri Razkan, a 22-year old Jewish supermarket assistant.

Israeli news agencies mentioned that Pinto had resolved to kill an Arab in revenge for a string of stabbings across Israel beginning in September of that year. For the planned attack, Pinto took with him a box-cutter and a hammer.

The attack on Razkan began when Pinto spotted him at a Shufersal supermarket in Kiryat Ata. Believing Razkan to be an Arab employee, Pinto approached him from behind while the young man was arranging food items. He drew out the box-cutter and stabbed Razkan repeatedly in the back, waist and shoulders.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxjZeFWxBjc

In sentencing Pinto, the judges wrote that while he had apologised to his victim and was “convinced that his action was wrong,” his regret was partially due to the fact that he had misidentified Razkan “and caused such significant harm to someone whom he refers to as his ‘brother’, meaning a Jew.”

CCTV footage of the attack shows Pinto approaching Razkan from behind and stabbing him as he was stocking shelves in the store. After a brief scuffle, Razkan managed to run away, chased by Pinto, who first stopped to pick up his skullcap which had fallen off. Pinto was subdued by shoppers shortly afterwards and Razkan was hospitalised with light to moderate injuries.

Observers have pointed out the difference between this sentence given for an attack on a Jew, albeit by another Jew, and the 18 months in prison given to an Israeli soldier who killed a wounded Palestinian man in cold blood.

(MEMO, PC, Social Media)