The former head of the Israel Bar Association, Adv. Avi Himi, joined the defense team of terrorist Ebrahim Mansour, who is accused of murdering prison warden, Yochai Avni, from a nationalist motive.
Nitzan, sister of the late Yochai, responded in tears when she saw Himi at the hearing on Wednesday morning and called out to the murderer’s defense team: "How can you do such a thing? How can you? I don’t understand this. Don't do this. How can you live with yourselves? Not everything is about money.”
About two weeks ago, the military prosecutor's office announced that the indictment against Mansour would also include a nationalist motive. Mansour failed a polygraph test given to him, in which he was asked if he planned the murder. He was found to be lying, when he claimed that the murder was not planned.
During the investigations, Mansour claimed that he planned to break in and steal from the apartment last month, but he did not plan the murder.
Military judge Major Barak Tamir commented on the indictment: "The indictment describes how the accused decided to enter Givon Hahadasha knowing that only Jews live there, and then took action to cause the death of the deceased. The indictment describes how the acts were committed and how the defendant stabbed the deceased 66 times."
The police and Shin Bet investigation shows that late one night at the beginning of July, Mansour came to Givon Hahadasha, without having a residence permit in Israel. After entering the village, he tried to break into several homes without success.
He then broke into the house that the late Yochai rented, and entered through the window, while the deceased was sleeping.
A physical fight broke out between Yochai and the murderer, during which Mansour took a sharp object and stabbed Yochai numerous times until he collapsed on the floor. He then stabbed him with another large knife that he took from the kitchen, and while Yohai was dying in the apartment he stabbed him again; another fatal stab in the neck that killed him.
The Jerusalem Magistrate's Court and Shin Bet investigation revealed that after the brutal murder, Mansour stole several items from the apartment and fled the scene. Before leaving the apartment, he lit a fire inside, which extinguished itself after a short time. The murderer fled Givon Hahadasha to Judea and Samaria, and on his way home burned the items he stole.