The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected the appeal of Nur al-Din Abu Hashiya, the terrorist who murdered IDF soldier Almog Shiloni, over his conviction in the murder and the sentence he received.
Abu Hashiya claimed through his attorney, Leah Tsemel, that the attack at the 2014 attack at the Haganah train station in Tel Aviv was not a premeditated murder, and that the murder was committed against the background of his difficult mental state.
He was sentenced to life in prison in 2016.
In the judgment on the appeal, Justice Yitzhak Amit wrote: "We are dealing with a terrorist attack, the murder of a soldier by stabbing with a knife in a crowded place. The defendant's words that he wanted to take the deceased's weapon and shoot the passers-by echo in our ears. This act was prevented when after the deceased, despite being stabbed several times, did not let go of his weapon and continued to struggle with the last of his strength with the appellant who tried to take the weapon from his hands."
"Even given a narrow approach to the interpretation of the article, under these circumstances I find no cause for intervention in the determination of the lower court that this is an exceptional murder in its severity.
Judge Amit also rejected the appeal of the compensation that Abu Hashiya was ordered to pay the Shiloni family. "In the case in question, no crime report was submitted, but Almog's father testified about the damage and suffering of the family. In my opinion, in cases where the damage is clear and obvious, such as in cases of death offenses, it is not necessary to use the report to determine the level of compensation, which is in any case limited to the maximum amount determined by law."
"In our case, when the seriousness of the act and its bitter consequences are the background, the compensation that was decided in favor of the family is certainly not excessive, so the appeal was rejected."