Netflix 'The Motive': Why did a 14-year-old butcher his entire family?

In 1968, a teen boy took his father's rifle to shoot his family point-blank, while they were still asleep
PUBLISHED OCT 28, 2021
A still from the trailer of 'The Motive' (YouTube)
A still from the trailer of 'The Motive' (YouTube)

Trigger Warning: Graphic content 

Netflix's newest true-crime, an Israeli 4-part documentary, tells the horrifying story of a 14-year-old teenager who murdered both his parents and sisters, with his father's rifle. The incident took place in Jerusalem, in 1968. To this day, we are yet to know why he did so.

As the series is scheduled to premiere on Netlfix, on October 28, viewers can expect to see the terrifying and gruesome act of a family massacre, committed by a young boy.

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The original four-part series aired in December 2020 and aimed to revisit the events surrounding the tragedy that took place on February 22, 1986. On this fateful day, the teenage boy got up from his sleep in the middle of the night, took his father's M-16 assault rifle (which he had at home since he was on military reserve duty), and then killed his parents and two sisters. Following this, he changed his clothes, like nothing happened, and ran to the neighbor’s house.

When the police arrived at the crime scene, the detective asked him why he killed his family, and the boy was quick to answer, saying that a green creature commanded him to do so. Many psychiatrists from Israel and abroad tried to decipher this abnormal act of his, but still haven't been able to put a finger on his deed.

The creators of the series, Tali Shemesh and Asaf Sudri, interviewed Yossi Arnon, the murderer's lawyer. In Arnon's opinion, the boy came up with a fake story of a green monster that took over his mind and ordered him to kill his family. The series is also an attempt by the creators to try and find the answer to the murders.

Through all the years that have passed by since that wintry Friday night, people still continue to be thoroughly disturbed by the outright dissonance between the character of the small, bespectacled boy who was so composed, brilliant, and kind in nature, to the monstrous massacre that he committed to his own kin. 

During his interrogation, which followed suit, the boy made bizarre claims, that added a lot more mystery to his actual motive, and to this day there are many theories on his state of mind at that moment. In the series, we will get a fair idea that describes the boy's future and the changes in his life after this catastrophic wrath.

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