Arab terrorist gets life in prison for car-ramming attack

A Palestinian terrorist, sentenced to life in prison, admitted that he wanted to kill Jews and therefore committed the fatal attack.  

Khaled Kutina, who murdered Shalom Yohai Cherki, 25, and seriously injured Shira Klein, 20, in April 2015 in a vehicular terror attack, was sentenced on Monday by Jerusalem’s district court to life in prison and an additional 20 years behind bars.

Kutina, 38, was also ordered to pay the families the maximum amount in damages – NIS 258,000 to each family.

Kutina was driving along Route 1 in Jerusalem on the eve of Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day, hunting for Jewish pedestrians to attack. Eventually, he came upon the two victims whom he identified as Jews by their clothing.

The two were on a date and sitting at a bus stop when Kutina rammed his car into them.

After initially claiming that the incident was a car accident, Kutina admitted that he wanted to kill Jews and therefore committed the terror attack.

Kutina’s eventual confession indicates that he meticulously planned the attack, pointing to a premeditated, nationalistically motivated act of terror rather than momentary impulse.

By: Aryeh Savir, World Israel News