ARA, (Israel): One of Israel’s longest serving Palestinian prisoners went free on Thursday after completing a 40-year sentence, as members of the new right-wing government called for him to be stripped of his citizenship.

Karim Younis, 60, was convicted of kidnapping and killing Israeli soldier Avraham Bromberg in 1983 in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

He served the longest continuous sentence of any Palestinian, according to the Palestinian Prisoners Association. In his hometown, the Israeli Arab village of Ara, Kounis received a hero’s welcome.