Jerusalem bus terrorist convicted of murdering three

An East Jerusalem terrorist who killed three people on a bus in the capital in October was convicted by Jerusalem’s District Court Monday on three counts of murder, seven counts of attempted murder and aiding the enemy in wartime.

The conviction came after the court in March rejected a plea bargain struck between the prosecution and the defense when defendant Bilal Abu Ghanem refused to recognize the authority of the court.

Abu Ghanem, a Jabel Mukaber resident and Hamas supporter, will be sentenced at a later date. The prosecution is seeking three consecutive life sentences for the killings and another 70 years for the attempted murders.

As part of the nixed plea bargain, which would seen have seen seven counts of attempted murder dropped from his charge sheet, Abu Ghanem was to state his confession to the court. Then the judge was expected to convict him on three counts of murder.

But when the moment came, Abu Ghanem refused to stand and make his confession to the court, even at the explicit request of presiding Judge Rivka Friedman-Feldman. She then called for a short recess and instructed Abu Ghanem’s legal counsel to explain court procedures to the defendant.

After the break, Abu Ghanem’s attorney told the court that his client had doubled down on his refusal to comply with procedure, prompting the judge to rescind the plea bargain.

“In light of the circumstances, in which the defendant has refused to stand or address this court, the court does not recognize any deal reached between the two parties,” it said in a statement.

Also Monday, a Palestinian terrorist who shot dead an Israeli rabbi and his teenage son in the West Bank in November was sentenced to three life sentences by an IDF military court.

Two life sentences were handed down for the murders of Rabbi Ya’akov Litman, 40, and his 18-year-old son Netanel. The third life sentence was given for the attempted murder of the other five family members in the car at the time of the attack.

The attack happened when the family car came under fire as they drove to an event to celebrate another daughter’s upcoming wedding.

In the Abu Ghanem case, according to the indictment handed down by the court in November, Abu Ghanem and another man, Baha Alyan, boarded Egged bus 78 in Jerusalem’s Armon Hanatziv neighborhood on the morning of October 13 of last year, and began shooting and stabbing passengers.

The two men were motivated to carry out the attack in retaliation for Israeli “intrusions in Al-Aqsa” on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount, and the “settlers who murder small children,” the charge sheet said.

The attack claimed the lives of Haviv Haim, 78, and Alon Govberg, 51. Richard Lakin, 76, who was critically wounded, died some two weeks later. Over a dozen people were injured in the attack.

Police who arrived at the scene shot and killed Alyan. Abu Ghanem was shot and injured, and police took him into custody.

In January, Alyan’s and Abu Ghanem’s family homes in Jabel Mukaber were demolished by Israeli security forces.