The Tel Aviv Magistrates Court on Sunday sentenced Oz Segal, a 36 year-old man from Herzliya who stabbed a 27 year-old Arab sanitation worker in the city in April while yelling "death to Arabs," to one year and nine months in prison. The sanitation worker was lightly wounded in the attack.

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The indictment accused Segal of crimes that have a maximum sentence of three years in prison. By law, when a person is carrying a weapon, his normal sentence can be doubled, which means Segal could potentially have been given a six-year sentence.

Segal said he committed the crime while temporarily insane. When he was interrogated by police he explained that he attacked the man because he was Arab.

The scene of the crime

Judge Shamai Becker rejected the defense's claim that "ghosts and voices" urged Segal to stab the man, writing in the official record that "not only did Segal know he was committing a criminal act, but moreover – even if we accept his words, which we see as absurd, according to which he was chased by ghosts and voices and wanted to find refuge in jail, he chose committing a criminal act as a solution and tool for achieving his aim.

"The ghotsts only haunted and 'drove Segal mad.' They didn't 'tell him' to commit a criminal act, didn't order him to stab a random person, and certainly did not point specifically at an Arab victim. The only thing that led Segal's mind astray is his hatred towards Arabs. Racism and hatred are indeed a sign and signal of terrible illness, but not insanity." Judge Becker added, "this is an event that terrorizes the victim, who has no clue of why he was attacked." He pointed out the fact that the maximum sentence is six years in prison, but also mentioned some extenuating circumstances that made him reduce it, including the defendant's troubled mental health history.