Terrorist Refuses to Confess, Plea Bargain Rejected

Jerusalem, 13 March, 2016 (TPS) -- Bilal Abu-Ghanem, an Israeli-Arab terrorist who killed three Israelis in a November 2015 attack, refused to confess to murder charges at a Jerusalem District Court hearing, leading to rejection of his plea bargain.

Under the plea bargain, Abu-Ghanem, a resident of Jerusalem’s Jabel Mukaber neighborhood, had agreed to admit to charges of murder and aiding an enemy during a time of war. In exchange, the prosecution was to drop the additional charges of attempted murder. Since Abu-Ghanem refused to confess, the court rejected the plea bargain and postponed the sentencing.

The attack that Abu-Ghanem perpetrated took place in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Armon Hanatziv. Abu-Ghanem and Bahaa Aliyan, also from eastern Jerusalem, shot toward an Israeli bus and then boarded the bus and started stabbing passengers before being neutralized. Three were murdered in the attack, including American citizen Richard Lakin.