My colleague referred to the main points of recent case law on this issue. However, after reviewing the case law, my conclusion differs from his conclusion. My colleague also agrees that according to the case law, given that every incident of intentional murder is cruel in nature, the legislature aimed at something special, cruelty that is rare even among acts of intentional murder.
An examination of the case law shows that multiple stabbings for oneself is not perceived as special cruelty. In the Klasani case, which was mentioned by my colleague, in describing the "second category" of cruelty cases, which is relevant to our case, Justice Elron suggested cases in which "cruelty is embodied in the fact that not only did the defendant decide to commit a criminal act of murder, but he made another choice, as expressed in his actions, to implement his decision in a way that caused the victim excessive suffering due to the use of the dead-road, which is evident in its cruelty" (emphasis in original). Judge Elron then goes on to point to three examples, in which the main element of cruelty was the duration of the suffering, whether the duration of the suffering was extreme (long hours or days), or whether the duration of the suffering was combined with the use of a variety of killing tools (such as many hammer blows, followed by the forced swallowing of acid and then strangulation), or violence in "continuation" (such as driving between different scenes, and attacking in different ways at each stop).
In my opinion, our case is indeed difficult and cruel. However, the act does not amount to the same "special cruelty" described in the case law as the legislator's intention.
According to the times that my colleague detailed, based on the security cameras, the assault lasted at most about 10 minutes. Admittedly, there were many stabbings, and there is no doubt that the deceased's suffering in those minutes seemed to him to be eternal, and that the horror of the realization that his life was surely ending caused Ben unbearable deep anguish. However, this case is no more serious than the Karasni affair itself, in which it was determined (by majority opinion) that this was not a case of special cruelty, even though it was the person who pushed the deceased's daughter (the adult) out of the apartment, sprayed tear gas in the face of the deceased, beatings were used in the stomach to bring her back to the apartment after she went out to the balcony, and then the deceased was stabbed 12 times, from the front and back. All this, while her daughter and mother are screaming outside the locked door.