Before calling for Marwan Barghouti's release,
@RoKhanna should watch this footage to know why Marwan is serving five life sentences.
Tel Aviv.
March 5, 2002.
It's shortly after 2 AM.
The Seafood Market restaurant is still packed for "Mediterranean Night." Irit Rahamim is there with her friends celebrating her bachelorette party. She's supposed to get married the next day.
Then Ibrahim Hassouna arrives, armed with an M16 assault rifle, hand grenades and a knife.
He opens fire from a pedestrian bridge overlooking the crowded restaurants, then moves toward the Seafood Market, continuing to shoot.
He throws two grenades toward people fleeing the restaurant, but neither explodes. He enters the restaurant and continues shooting and stabbing people.
Inside, people are screaming and diving under tables. An Israeli American eyewitness later describes men and women clinging to each other "for dear life." Rahamim calls her fiancรฉ, believing she's about to die and will never see him again.
One of the patrons, William Hazan, is stabbed in the back. He manages to pull out his gun and fires at the attacker. Hazan later tells Israel Radio that he shot and killed him, although police also report confronting and shooting the gunman.
The footage you're watching shows the aftermath.
Shattered restaurant windows. Bodies lying outside, some covered in plastic sheets. A wounded person being rushed away on a stretcher. Ambulances leaving the scene while armed police search the area for additional attackers.
Three people were murdered.
Yosef Habi, 52.
Eli Dahan, 53.
Salim Barakat, 33, a Druze Israeli police officer who confronted the attacker.
Another 31 people were wounded.
The Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, affiliated with Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, claimed responsibility for the massacre.
An Israeli civilian court convicted Marwan Barghouti for his role in all three murders. Evidence presented during his trial indicated that he had approved the operation but requested that it take place in the West Bank rather than inside Israel.
And the Seafood Market terror attack accounted for only three of his five murder convictions.
Yoela Chen was a 45 year old mother of two. In January 2002, she was traveling to a family wedding when gunmen opened fire near Givat Ze'ev, killing her and wounding her aunt.
Barghouti was also convicted for his role in her murder.
Father Georgios Tsibouktzakis was a Greek Orthodox monk from St. George's Monastery. In June 2001, he was shot dead while driving on the Jerusalem to Ma'ale Adumim road.
Barghouti was convicted for his role in that murder too.
Yosef Habi.
Eli Dahan.
Salim Barakat.
Yoela Chen.
Father Georgios Tsibouktzakis.
Five people with names, families and lives that ended in attacks for which Marwan Barghouti was convicted.
Five murder convictions. Five life sentences, plus another 40 years.
Today, Congressman Ro Khanna called for Marwan Barghouti's release.
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