Three life sentences have been handed out to the terrorist Bilal Abu Ganam who murdered three innocent civilians in a terror attack that took place in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Armon HaNatziv on October 13th, 2015. Abu Ganam was found guilty of three counts of murder and seven counts of attempted murder for the attack. 

The Jerusalem District Attorney reached an plea bargain regarding the punishment with Abu Ganam’s lawyers. The three life sentences will be fulfilled consecutively, and the jail time for the counts of attempted murder will be dropped. 

During the attack, two terrorists, one armed with a gun and another with a knife, boarded the 78 bus and began attacking both passengers and the driver. One was shot dead and the other (Abu Ganam) was shot and taken into custody.

The three Israelis who were killed were  78 year old Haim Habib, 51-year-old Alon Guvberg and 76 year old Richard Laikin. 

According to the indictment letter, Ganam and his accomplice talked about the “incursion in the Al-Aqsa mosque” and “settlers killing babies” as their reasoning behind the attack. The purchased a handgun for 20,000 shekel and boarded a bus, giving each other a signal and began to randomly kill passengers. Even after they ran out of ammunition and the knife blade broke they attempted to kill passengers with their bare hands until the Border Police arrived and neutralized them. 

Maya Rahimi, who was critically wounded in the attack, told reporters at Yediot Aharonot news site that “in the case of the terrorist he has enough guilty verdicts. But the idea of a plea bargain sends a message to other would be terrorist that Israel is treating them nicely and it detracts from any sense of deterrent.”