Niv Nehemia in court
Niv Nehemia in courtYoni Kempinski

The Central District Court in Lod this week sentenced the Arab terrorist who critically wounded Niv Nehemia at a supermarket in Yavne about a year ago to 22 years in prison.

The terrorist, 19-year-old Ismail Abu Aram, from the town of Yatta near Hevron, was convicted of attempted murder in terror-connected circumstances. The terrorist will pay Nehemia compensation in the amount of NIS 200,000 ($55,000).

Attorney Ezra Ezra, who represents the Nehemia family, told Arutz Sheva that the sentence is absurd. "The terrorist stabbed a single victim for 50 seconds. We hoped that because of the severity of the cruel attack, he would be given the full severity of the punishment. The sentence handed down this week was the first given since the introduction of the Anti-Terrorism Law, which toughened the punishment of terrorists who tried to murder from 20 to 25 years in prison."

"The terrorist has received 22 and a half years in prison, but we will never know if he will not be released in one of the [prisoner] releases that go on the road under one government or another ... He is going to spend 22 years of paradise compared to the village of Yatta, with hot water, newspapers and three meals a day, in relative luxury.

The lawyer hopes that the law will be amended to strengthen the punishment against terrorists. "A proposal to amend the Anti-Terror Law has been submitted to the Knesset, so that the law that commits to double the punishment of terrorists who tried to kill Jews will be implemented, not from 20 to 25 years in prison, but 40 years in prison."

Ezra noted that the court's decision that the terrorist will compensate the injured party by NIS 200,000 is inapplicable. "All the victims of terrorism fail to collect the compensation that was awarded against the residents of the Palestinian Authority because it is impossible to implement the ruling. We appealed to the Minister of Finance to allow the terrorist victim to receive the funds while offsetting the funds transferred to the Palestinian Authority by Israel."

Ezra said that Nehemia's home is not. "Niv is 100 percent disabled. He goes with crutches and lives on the third floor of a building without an elevator. He's counting on the state to help him make the home handicapped accessible or provide him with an alternative apartment. He goes out for treatment four times a week and each time he has to go up and down fifty steps. It's impossible."