Israeli jailed for stabbing Jew he mistook for Arab

An Israeli Jew was sentenced to 11 years in prison on Monday for stabbing another Jew he thought was an Arab in a racially motivated attack, a court said.

The Haifa District Court ruling said Shlomo Haim Pinto, a 32-year-old resident of Kiryat Ata in northern Israel, had on October 13, 2015 set out to "find and kill an Arab" in revenge for near daily "terror attacks".

Armed with a kitchen knife, a box cutter and a hammer, he stabbed a Jewish supermarket employee, mistakenly thinking he was an Arab.

The assailant, who confessed, entered a plea of insanity which was rejected.

The court convicted him of attempted murder and possession of a weapon with intent to carry out a racist killing.

His victim, who was wounded, will receive 50,000 Israeli shekels ($13,635, 12,800 euros) compensation from Pinto.

Since a wave of violence broke out in October 2015, 252 Palestinians, 41 Israelis, two Americans, a Jordanian, an Eritrean and a Sudanese have died.

The rate of attacks has declined sharply in recent months.