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ARTICLE AD BOX
“His murderer was supposed to be released—to return and celebrate, to return and live, maybe even to plan the next murder," Micha Avni, whose father, Richard Lakin was murdered in 2015 said.
By YAKI ADAMKER FEBRUARY 23, 2025 14:27Micah Avni, whose father, Israeli-American Richard Lakin, was murdered in a terrorist attack in Jerusalem’s Armon Hanatziv neighborhood in 2015, released a video on Sunday condemning the possible release of his father’s killer, who is among 600 terrorists currently being held back under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s directive.
“My father was murdered in a terrorist attack because he was Jewish because he was Israeli. Now, his murderer is one of 600 terrorists whose release is being delayed. My father immigrated to Israel from the United States—he lacked nothing there. He immigrated because he was Jewish, and he was murdered here,” Avni said.
“His murderer was supposed to be released—to return and celebrate, to return and live, maybe even to plan the next murder. And today, when his name appears on the list, my heart is torn. This isn't just injustice—it is as if they are killing my father again, erasing our pain, the pain of bereaved families, and abandoning his memory,” he continued.
'What country do we want to be?'
Avni then posed a direct question: “What kind of country do we want to be? A country that protects its citizens or a country that releases the murderers of its children?”
The attack occurred in November 2015, when Bilal Abu Ghanem was indicted for carrying out a shooting and stabbing spree with an accomplice on Egged bus line 78 on Olei Hagardom Street in Armon Hanatziv.
He was convicted on three counts of murder and seven counts of attempted murder. Ghanem claimed he committed the attack “because of the breaches at Al-Aqsa and because settlers kill children.”
English (US) ·