Early on Thursday morning, the Israel Prisons Service transported convicted terrorist murderer Karim Younes to the central city of Ra'anana where he was released, upon the completion of his forty-year sentence.
Younes, along with his brother Maher, was found guilty of the murder of IDF soldier Avraham Bromberg in 1980. Younes holds Israeli citizenship and his family lives in the Arab-Israeli village of 'Ara, not far from Pardes Hanna. On Wednesday, as relatives prepared a festive welcome for their "returning hero," National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir ordered police to do their best to subdue the festivities, and Younes was therefore taken to Ra'anana and released there, before the authorities informed his family that they could come to pick him up.
Far from being repentant, Younes declared upon his return home that he was ready to sit in prison for another forty years if it would advance the "freedom of his people."
Speaking to Arab media while visiting the grave of his mother in 'Ara, Younes said: "I'm prepared to sacrifice another forty years for the freedom of our people. Our consolation is that our prisoners are united against the barbarity of the occupation. I left many prisoners behind and my heart is with them. Some of them dream of death as a release due to their despair."
Responding to Younes' words, the legal director of the Torat Lehima organization, Michael Karmiel, submitted a complaint to the head of Israel Police's interrogations and intelligence department. "Karim Younes was sentenced to forty years of imprisonment for the kidnapping and murder of IDF soldier Avraham Bromberg z"l in November 1980. Karim kidnapped Bromberg from the Hadera junction when he was on his way home from his base in the Golan Heights. Karim shot him with his personal weapon and tossed him to lie, wounded and bleeding, on the side of the road. Avraham hovered between life and death for four pain-wracked days before succumbing to his injuries.
"There's no need to expand on the danger inherent in Younes' words," Karmiel continued. "This is a terrorist whose hands are smeared with the blood of an IDF soldier, someone who just moments after being released from prison is seeking to inflame the mob of his admirers, who is glorifying the reason for his imprisonment, and, most disgusting of all, is proclaiming his readiness to commit another despicable murder, even at the cost of his freedom for the rest of his life.
"There exists a genuine danger that he will return to terrorism - it's not even a matter of doubt," Karmiel stressed. "We know this from the dozens of released terrorists who have returned to terrorism following their release: Karim Raatab Younes Eweis, Nasser Abu-Hameid, Akhsan Suhana, Ela Mahmoud Fayad Kafisha, Ibrahim Mahmoud Ahmad Halabiya, Wassim Salim Mustafa Jaled... Dozens of soldiers and citizens were murdered by these people. Therefore, in light of the clear and present danger inherent in Younes' words, I ask that he be arrested immediately as an urgent matter, interrogated, and charged with supporting terrorism."
The Torat Lehima organization added, "Today is a day of shame for the legal system and the governments of Israel, past and present. A terrorist murderer who stayed alive and sat in prison for just forty years (and not until the end of his days) for the murder of an IDF soldier is now seeing the light of day and has been released to return home. This is a mark of disgrace for the State of Israel. And it is nothing to be surprised about when such a one, immediately upon returning home, once again begins to incite to further murders of soldiers - and it is for this reason that we are submitting a police complaint.
"The new government has an obligation to ensure that any such terrorist is eliminated or executed, that his family is expelled from the country, that his supporters are punished - and of course that such people should never serve as Knesset members. This is what the new government was elected to deliver on. Yesterday, the government began to lay out its plans to reform the judiciary but they are not sufficient. The blood of the murdered soldier, Avi Bromberg Hy"d, is crying from the ground."