Palestinian Bus Killer Sentenced to Three Life Terms
Neighborhood Clashes: Palestinian youths battle Israeli police in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Abu Tor, to which correspondent Naomi Zeveloff just moved. Image by getty images
The Palestinian terrorist who killed three men, including an American citizen, in a stabbing spree on a bus was sentenced to three life sentences plus 60 years.
Balal Abu Gaanam, from the eastern Jerusalem neighborhood of Jabel Mukaber, was sentenced Monday in Jerusalem District Court for the Oct. 13 attack aboard a public bus driving through the nearby East Talpiot neighborhood. He was found guilty in June.
The American victim, Richard Lakin, 76, had moved to Israel from Connecticut in 1983. He died two weeks after the attack.
Along with the three deaths, 10 others were wounded in the stabbings by Gaanam and a second assailant. The other terrorist was killed during the attack.
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and the protests on college campuses.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
