From the Liveblog of
Friday, August 7, 2026
Six, including four minors, charged with murder of Benayahu Razi in Jerusalem Airbnb apartment
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Prosecutors charge 19-year-old Agam Tsarafi, 20-year-old Shilat Houta, 17-year-old Avior Sasson and three other minors with the murder of 19-year-old Benayahu Razi in an Airbnb in Jerusalem’s Nachlaot neighborhood on July 11.
Another woman, 46-year-old Jerusalem resident Linor Sasson — Avior’s mother — is charged with helping the other suspects flee after the four minors allegedly stabbed and beat Razi and a male friend of his with knives, brass knuckles, a club and a kitchen mallet.
Tsarafi, Houta and the four minors, including Avior Sasson, are charged with murder with intent and causing grievous bodily harm with intent. The four minors, including Avior Sasson, are also charged with illegal possession of a knife. Linor Sasson is charged with aiding and abetting after the act. All seven suspects face additional charges of obstruction of justice.
The indictment is filed in the Jerusalem District Court. Police request the court to keep all seven suspects in custody until the end of the legal proceedings. The four minors, aged 15-17, are unnamed in the indictment in accordance with Israeli privacy law. However, Avior Sasson has been publicly named after police asked the public to help find him while he evaded arrest for some two weeks after the incident before he was caught.
Tsarafi and Houta had rented the apartment for the weekend and invited Razi and his friend to join, the indictment says. It adds that Tsarafi and Razi were in a romantic relationship.
Tsarafi and Houta left the apartment in the afternoon on July 11, following an argument with Razi and his friend, and made their way to Linor Sasson’s home, where they recounted the argument to the four minors and alleged that Razi had been violent, according to the indictment.
Tsarafi, Houta, Avior Sasson and the three other minors then jointly decided to “finish” Razi, and Linor Sasson drove the six murder suspects to the Airbnb apartment while Houta threatened Razi and the unnamed friend and demanded they exit, the indictment says.
Upon arrival, the suspects found Razi and his friend outside the apartment, and the four minors coaxed the two victims to go back inside for a conversation, according to the indictment.
Once inside, they allegedly cornered Razi and attacked him, and also wounded the friend when he came to Razi’s defense. Houta stood in the doorway and broadcast the violence to Tsarafi via video call, prosecutors say.
After the attack, Linor Sasson allegedly helped all six suspects flee the crime scene.
She drove Houta and Tsarafi to Jerusalem’s Malha neighborhood, near the home of Tsarafi’s sister, and then drove with the minors in the direction of Jerusalem’s Pisgat Ze’ev neighborhood, dropping off one of them — her son Avior — on the way in a location unknown to prosecutors, according to the indictment.
Linor Sasson and the remaining three minors were arrested en route, while Avior Sasson managed to evade arrest for some two weeks.
The Times of Israel Community.