Nirit Zmora, who was attacked by a knife-wielding Muslim, will grapple today with the judges' decision to acquit the terrorist of an intentional murder attempt because the knife broke during the stabbing.
The newspaper Yediot Ahronot published the text of Zmora's expected address before the Ofer military court. Her purpose is to ask the judges to impose maximum sentence on the terrorist.
Zmora said: "Hello; my children asked me to pass this bouquet to the murderer as a token of gratitude for not trying, according to the court, to murder me. A flower from every child. I stand before you today in more pain than before the verdict, still hurting, stunned, and appalled. It's hard to come to this place after what I experienced here, and the fact that I stand here alive, standing on two legs cannot be attributed to the murderer sitting here in court. I can easily imagine not myself standing here, but rather the victims murdered in cold blood, stabbed with a knife. The only subtle difference between them and me is that by the grace of G-d the knife broke in my back.
"It's important for me to say that we're not motivated by revenge. I ask the judges to at least apply the maximum sentence to the murderer sitting here in accordance with the verdict, which I regret you ruled."
Zmora was stabbed by a Muslim with a knife drawn at the Gush Etzion junction in October 2015. The terrorist, Faiz Hamza, a Hevron resident, was caught. Zmora was severely injured during the incident. However, the terrorist's knife broke during the stabbing, leading the judges to conclude the terrorist should be acquitted of attempted murder.
The main reason for the judges' decision is the impossibility in proving the terrorist's intention was to murder.