A video published by Palestinian media on Monday showed Abu Mukh leaving Ktzi’ot Prison after serving 35 years of his life sentence.
By Lauren Marcus, World Israel News
An Arab Israeli terrorist who received a life sentence for murdering an IDF soldier was released from prison on Monday.
Rushdi Hamdan Abu Mukh, from Baka al-Gharbiya, was a member of a PLFP terrorist cell that kidnapped and murdered an Israeli soldier in 1984.
Abu Mukh and three co-conspirators spotted Moshe Tamam, 19, in uniform near the Netanya interchange and offered him a ride. The terrorists kidnapped Tamam and shot him to death outside Jenin.
A video published by Palestinian media on Monday showed Abu Mukh leaving Ktzi’ot Prison after serving 35 years of his life sentence.
The video shows Abu Mukh embracing his supporters,before driving away from the prison.
Although Abu Mukh was originally sentenced to life in prison, former president Shimon Peres commuted his sentence to 35 years due to a legal reevaluation of Arab Israelis convicted of terrorism charges before the 1994 Oslo Accords.
Tamam’s family slammed the decision to release Abu Mukh to Baka al-Gharbiya, which is just a few kilometers away from their hometown of Netanya.
Tamam’s brother Oren spoke out on Army Radio on Monday, asking that the government revoke Abu Mukh’s citizenship.
“We live a 10 minute drive away from him,” he said. “This [expletive] has been receiving support from the Palestinian Authority for decades. We could see this human scum in the mall near our house.”
Dr. Ortal Tamam, Moshe’s niece, told Ynet, “The killer is released back to his home, which is a short drive from our family home….The killer is going to be my family’s neighbor and [Interior] Minister Deri is not doing anything.
“Why does the interior minister have the power to revoke citizenship if not exactly for these cases?”
A Palestinian Media Watch report from 2019 revealed that the Palestinian Authority had paid Abu Mukh more than 1.5 million shekels during his incarceration.