A Nazareth District Court on Sunday sentenced a man from Nazareth to ten years in prison for assautling his girlfriend's former boyfriend.

Zaid Samr was found guilty of attempted murder, assault and battery, sabotage and unlawful possession of a knife. In addition, he will pay NIS 10,000 in compensation.

A year and a half ago Samr overheard a conversation between his girlfriend and her former boyfriend who was parked in a vehicle nearby. Samr went outside, slashed the vehicle's tires and dragged the man out of his car. After a repeated beating, he cut the man's throat with the intention of killing him.

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Judges Aharon Aminoff, Ziad Huwari and Nehama Munitz wrote in their ruling that "there is no doubt that this is a perfect example of the 'knife sub-culture' which has sadly become a real epidemic. Solving conflicts by using any kind of weapon in 'Wild West' fashion is no longer unusual or rare. Therefore?the court will fight the phenomenon with all its power."

Samr had already been convicted of serious felonies, mostly related to violence and theft.