A Lod district court sentenced a 23-year old Israeli-Arab woman to 16 years in prison for a stabbing attack on a Jewish woman last April.
On April 3rd, 2016, Shatila Abu-Iyada, a resident of the Israeli Arab city of Kfar Kassem, stabbed a 30-year old mother of three in the nearby city of Rosh Haayin.
While her family initially denied the attack was nationalistically-motivated, Abu-Iyada told investigators she had originally planned to bomb Jewish restaurant patrons to avenge the death of Muhammed Abu-Khdeir, an Arab teenager killed in 2014 after the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli youths.
After she failed to construct an explosive device, Abu-Iyada placed two knives in her purse and headed out to find a victim in Rosh Haayin. After settling upon a target, she drew the knives and stabbed her victim, who managed to flee in the midst of the attack. Civilians at the scene then confronted Abu-Iyada and aided in her capture.
The sentence is part of a plea bargain agreement, which includes a 16-year prison sentence for attempted murder, as well as 100,000 shekels ($27,160) in compensation to the victim.