Jewish Man who Stabbed Jerusalem Gay Pride Marchers Sentenced to Life

An Israeli court on Sunday sentenced an ultra-Orthodox Jewish man to life in prison for killing a 16-year-old girl and wounding others during a stabbing spree at a Jerusalem Gay Pride parade.

The Jerusalem District Court convicted Yishai Schlissel in April of murder and six counts of attempted murder over the July 2015 stabbings.

He was sentenced to life plus 31 years, a court statement said, after prosecutors had requested life plus 60 years.

Schlissel was led into the courtroom with both his hands and feet shackled.

The incident triggered harsh criticism of the police when it emerged that Schlissel had been released from prison only three weeks earlier after serving a 10-year sentence for a similar attack.

He had also posted a letter on the Internet speaking of the "abomination" of a Gay Pride parade being held in the Holy City and the need to stop it, even at the cost of one's life.

Many questioned how Schlissel, 40 when he was convicted, was allowed anywhere near the parade, which saw thousands marching through central Jerusalem.

Witnesses described terrifying scenes of Schlissel, with a long beard and dressed in the dark suit worn by ultra-Orthodox Jews, storming the parade with a knife.

"This guy showed no remorse," Noam Eyal, 31, who said he was one of the victims, told AFP outside the court.

"In the last hearing before this he said that this is a religious war."

- Police under scrutiny -

Sarah Kala, executive director of Jerusalem Open House LGBT center, said after the sentencing that "it's another step to try and deter the terrible homophobia raging on our streets.

"They don't usually give the maximum possible sentence, but in our view to know that Yishai Schlissel will stay in prison for the rest of his days is certainly something that comforts us a little," she told public radio.

During the trial, the court said police knew of the potential threat but failed to prevent it.

"The evidence clearly shows that Israeli police were aware of the dangers the defendant, released (from prison) a short while before the march, posed," the April judgment stated.

"The unbearable ease in which the defendant managed to infiltrate the marchers and carry out his nefarious deed before being apprehended is incomprehensible."

It said that "the gloomy picture arising is that lessons that should have been learned from the 2005 march were not implemented, and intelligence and other materials in possession of the police were not used prudently."

Six senior Israeli policemen were removed from their posts as a consequence.

The court also noted the "absurdity" in Schlissel being released without any supervision or having undergone rehabilitation.